When former LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe is voted in unopposed as British Olympic Association chairman on Wednesday, he will be "joining an organisation on the crest of a wave and in some difficulty," according to Owen Gibson of the London GUARDIAN. The BOA has "just played a major part in delivering the best British performance at an Olympic Games in over a century," but it also faces "long-running questions over its finances." The appointment of Coe will give it "the best opportunity possible to face those challenges, assuming he can devote enough time to them amid his portfolio existence." Three of the challenges he faces are:
- FINANCES: The BOA's balance sheet was left "in a parlous state" due to dismal sales of BOA scarves and medallions during the Games and "a long-running row" with LOCOG over the deal that originally licensed the Olympic rings to the 2012 organisers.
- LEGACY: Coe often said that "it was for others to deliver on the legacy created by the Games." However, his decision to accept an offer from the prime minister to take on the BOA role has "left him among those who will be judged on whether the promises he made to secure the Olympics are being kept."
- ROLE: Coe's task will be "to define what sort of organisation he wants the BOA to be and where it should sit in the overall sporting landscape" (GUARDIAN, 11/6).
PLENTY OF SUPPORT: INSIDETHEGAMES.biz's Tom Degun reported that outgoing BOA Chair Colin Moynihan has "backed his successor" Coe to "build on his foundations at the organisation." Moynihan: "Seb will do an outstanding job. The fact that he is keen to do it is an endorsement of the position the BOA now holds in British sport" (
INSIDETHEGAMES.biz, 11/6).
