IAAF President Sebastian Coe said that athletics "will not have a future as a sport unless it can re-establish its credibility after a series of doping scandals," according to Kate Allen of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Coe, who became IAAF president in August, told a committee of MPs that the sport’s anti-doping procedures "had not been adequate in the past but he was taking steps to remedy that." Addressing the Commons Culture Media & Sport Committee, Coe said that he was "putting in a greater level of external scrutiny and lowering the walls." Four investigations are "under way into various aspects of the doping allegations and the IAAF's operations." Coe: "Have there been failures? Yes. Will I fix them? Absolutely. If we do not do that then I know that there are no tomorrows for my sport. Now we know we have a global problem" (FT, 12/2). The PA's Matt McGeehan reported Coe "has regrets over the language used but not the sentiment" when describing investigations into suspicious blood results as "a declaration of war on our sport." Coe said, "I described the use of selected data against clean athletes in exactly those terms. I don't step back from that." He added, "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 question my motives, to call to talk the sport I'm currently head of." When asked by MP Ian Lucas, as an "insider" of IAAF and FIFA -- "organisations which have been bedevilled by corruption" -- why he is the right man to lead athletics, Coe said, "Because I have the experience the do that. I have the support of the sport to do that" (PA, 12/2).
UNDER FIRE: In London, MacLeary & Bloom reported when asked if there is "an acceptance within the IAAF that doping was tolerable, Coe dismissed that accusation." Coe: "If I go back to the immediate challenge we have there is Russia's ban and allegations made about some people in the IAAF. If you say IAAF has acceptance that doping is acceptable, I don't accept that." After more than two hours, "Coe was questioned on his association with sportswear giant Nike." He again "denied a conflict of interest" -- a charge previously leveled by committee member Damian Collins, among others. Coe said, "I made the judgement, given the level of noise around the relationship, that this had become a monstrous distraction, that reality and perception had become horribly entangled and I didn't want anything to distract from the changes I'm making" (TELEGRAPH, 12/2).
