Seb Coe’s claims of ignorance over athletic corruption ‘undermined’

Lord Sebastian Coe faces fresh questions about what he knew of corruption within athletics before his election as president of the sport’s governing body the IAAF after MPS heard evidence that “undermined” his claims of ignorance.

Lord Coe told the culture, media and sport select committee in December 2015 that hewasunawareofanyspecific allegations about the extent of Russian doping or that senior IAAF officials were extorting money from Russian athletes to bury positive drug tests until German broadcaster ARD broke the story on December 0 Lord Sebastian Coe’s evidence to MPS questioned 3, 2014. But Dave Bedford told the same committee that he had called and e-mailed Lordcoe to warn him about the scandal in August 2014 and had then spoken to him about a related matter on November 21, two weeks before the ARD broadcast.

Lod Coe told MPS he forwarded Mr Bedford’s e-mails to the IAAF’S new ethics board without reading them properly or opening the attached documents. Mr Bedford, the former London Marathon race director and chairman of the IAAF’S road racing commission, said he was “very surprised and quite disappointed” when he heard Coe say that.

In summing up his evidence to the committee, Conservative MP Nigel Huddleston said it was clear Mr Bedford’s answers had “undermined” Lord Coe’s version of events.