Jess is backing Lord Coe to get things right
DAME JESSICA ENNIS-HILL believes Lord Coe is the right man to clean up athletics as she waits to discover when she will receive her gold medal from the 2011 World Championships.
Ennis-Hill finished second behind Tatyana Chernova in the heptathlon in Daegu, but the Russian was subsequently banned for doping and had her results annulled.
Russian athletes were also banned from the Rio Olympics – where Ennis-Hill won silver – after a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) independent commission report exposed a “deeply rooted culture of cheating” in the country.
International Association of Athletics Federations president Coe has recently faced questions about when he first heard about Russian marathon runner Liliya Shobukhova being extorted for 450,000 euros by IAAF and Russian officials.
“It’s a tough area and it’s going to take time to put it right, but it will be put right,” Ennis-Hill said before taking part in her local Sheffield Hallam parkrun.
“I do have sympathy for Seb. It’s a very tough job and it’s going to take time but we have to see it through. He’s doing a good job so far so we just have to see what happens.”
Ennis-Hill has doubts over whether that can be achieved ahead of this year’s World Championships in London, where she would like to receive her gold medal from six years earlier.
“It’s been such a scandal and been so vast that it’s not going to be rectified and corrected over even a matter of months,” added the 31-year-old, who retired from competition in October last year.
“It’s going to take a long time to make sure that system is right again. I don’t know if it’s going to be ready in time for London.
“Having the medal is so special, but actually just knowing it’s been rectified and it’s rightly yours is the main thing.”
Despite this, some excellent bags and large specimen fish were recorded with the water fishing very well on the top half with Buzzers and various coloured Fritz patterns working well.
Jim Linton from Moodiesburn had four fish for 17lb 12oz – best 7lb on a Wotsit, Gavin Wilson (Edinburgh) three for 11lb on Buzzers, C. Meiklejohn (Stirling) took one for 7lb on a Fab, Laurie Rumgay (Perth) two for 9lbs on an Orange Lure and Glasgow’s Ronnie Stanovich used a Damsel to bag a brace weighing 10lb.