Coe wants to speed up IAAF reform
Athletic chief gives nod to predecessor’s abuse of power
The IAAF has the chance to distance itself from “grotesque stories” of corruption when members vote Saturday on a raft of revolutionary reforms drawn up by President Sebastian Coe.
Since Coe took office in August 2015, the IAAF has been mired in the fallout from Coe’s disgraced predecessor Lamine Diack, at the center of a corruption scandal in which several former senior IAAF officials were found to have bribed Russian athletes to keep quiet over positive doping tests.
“Now is not the time to take our foot off the pedal. We have a momentous opportunity on Saturday to restore credibility and pioneer a new era of transparent and accountable sports administration,” Coe said.
“We are guardians, not owners of this sport and as such we have an obligation to lay the right foundations for future generations who will sit in our places and compete in our events.”
Coe, whose proposals go before an IAAF special congress on Saturday, said, “This is a pretty important week in the history of our sport. Because I do not want us ever to return to the grotesque stories that even over the last few days we have been waking up to.”
The latest revelations, coming as yet more athletes were stripped of medals following retests dating back to 2008, saw French newspaper Le Monde and German broadcaster ARD report that the practice of covering up Russian anomalies was more widespread than initially thought.
Coe’s reforms, with a nod to Diack’s abuse of the presidency, include stripping himself of some powers, with the president and IAAF Council not allowed to serve more than 12 years and with more checks put in place.
They also push for gender balance, handing athletes a greater voice and crucially establishing an independent integrity unit that would manage all anti-doping matters and be responsible for greater intelligence gathering.
“This is a moment to be bold, not to be timid,” he said. “The reforms create the strongest set of foundations upon which we need to build new fans.
“We must engage with young people, we must find new fans – and that sits at the heart of our strategy.”
Coe needs the backing of two-thirds of the 214 federations that will vote on Saturday to get the proposals passed.
“We must accept that the reputation of the IAAF and athletics has been tarnished by events that came to light a year ago,” Coe said.
“We still have a lot of work to do to restore our reputation, credibility and trust within our own sport and the wider world of sport.”
Norwegian Rune Andersen, currently head of the IAAF Taskforce looking into steps Russia is taking in its antidoping fight, said the creation of the Athletics Integrity Unit was “ground-breaking.”