Seb Coe accused of misleading inquiry
LONDON: A report published by British legislators has accused IAAF President Sebastian Coe of misleading a parliamentary inquiry into doping.
The digital, culture, media and sports committee’s report was critical of Coe’s responses to questions regarding how much he knew about doping within track and field before the problems were revealed. The committee suggested Coe could have acted sooner to clean up while he served as vice president of the international track and field federation until 2015, when he won an election to succeed Lamine Diack as president. Coe appeared before the committee in December 2015. In the report published Monday, legislators said Coe “sought to distance himself from any knowledge of the allegations of doping in Russian athletics before the details were exposed in the German documentary,” in December 2014.
IAAF CEO GERS QUITS
LONDON: IAAF chief executive officer Olivier Gers has resigned 18 months into his role citing differences with the global governing body of athletics’ commercial strategy, he said in a statement.
Gers’ departure came as a surprise, particularly after he was appointed amid much anticipation after a six-month search.
“While I’m sorry to be leaving, the pre-existing commercial framework makes it difficult for me to apply my talents and fully leverage the assets of the IAAF in the way I would like,” said Gers.