FIVE KEY QUESTIONS ...
How do you know the Qatar 2019 bid was clean?
COE’S ANSWER: ‘I do not.’ (Coe then takes us around the houses and questioner MP Farrelly replies: ‘I’ll take that as a no.’ Farrelly then pushes him on whether he will investigate, to which there are no firm assurances.)
EXPLANATION: There are serious questions about the bid, not least surrounding Athletics Kenya chairman Isaiah Kiplagat who has been accused of accepting a gift of two cars from the Qatar Athletics Federation when Doha was successfully bidding to host the 2019 World Championships last year.
VERDICT: Unconvincing again from Coe.
Do you regret calling the publication of a leaked database of suspicious blood values a ‘declaration of war’ on the sport?
COE’S ANSWER: ‘I described the use of selected data against clean athletes in those terms. I stick by the sentiments. I probably might have chosen different language. I’m sorry this has mutated into an attack on the media. I will die in a ditch to the right for media groups to call to task the sport I’m currently head of.’
VERDICT: An apology for his language but not for doubting the motives of the whistleblowers and investigative journalists. Coe notably quickly escaped from Portcullis House before any of the 30-plus journalists present could question him.
Have you ever been offered a bribe? Do you know anybody who has been offered a bribe? Have you heard any chat about this?
COE’S ANSWER: ‘No.’
VERDICT: For a man who has spent more than a decade in sports administration, including a two-and-a-half-year stint on the FIFA ethics committee, the suggestion that he has never heard talk of bribes being offered is somewhat implausible.
Did Nike have an inherent interest in hosting the athletics World Championships in 2021?
COE’S ANSWER: ‘I don’t know, you’ll have to ask them.’
EXPLANATION: The championships were awarded abruptly and without a vote to Eugene, Oregon, where Nike was formed. A leaked email last week suggested Coe had lobbied his predecessor over their hosting of the event.
VERDICT: Even suggesting the possibility that the world’s biggest sponsor of athletics had no stake in the championships coming to its spiritual home and world headquarters is absurd.
Should you have terminated the paid position as an ambassador for Nike sooner? And do you accept there was a conflict of interest?
COE’S ANSWER: ‘If I thought the noise would have escalated to the level it did, yes I probably would have. (On conflict of interest) I would have to say that is a challengeable point. VERDICT: Not for the first time, Coe makes the mistake of thinking that declaring a conflict of interest on various websites somehow lessens the conflict.