Former Olympic pole vault champion Sergey Bubka announced on Wednesday that he "is running for the presidency" of the Int'l Association of Athletics Federations, taking on Briton Sebastian Coe in a "battle between two of the sport's greats," according to Karolos Grohmann of REUTERS. Bubka, who won an Olympic Gold Medal, six consecutive world championship titles and set 35 world records, wants to lead the IAAF "when President Lamine Diack steps down later this year." Fellow IAAF VP Coe, a double 1500m Olympic champion and the chief organizer of the London 2012 Olympics, "announced his candidacy late last year." Bubka said, "From the days when I played in the streets of my homeland Ukraine to winning gold medals at world athletics championships, my life has always been about sport" (REUTERS, 1/28). The PA reported Bubka, who won Olympic Gold in '88, said encouraging young people’s interest in athletics and “clean sport” would be his priorities. Bubka: "We also need to provide greater grassroots support to inspire the next generation of athletes; we need to better engage with young people and build new audiences; and we need to ensure protection of clean sport" (PA, 1/28).