IAAF President Sebastian Coe has been "rolling with the punches for decades," but a year into his presidency he is "throwing some of his own," according to Rick Broadbent of the LONDON TIMES. So he "will not bow down" to Russia President Vladimir Putin and wants a review of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He is also "adamant that the Rio de Janeiro Olympics should not be dubbed the Asterisk Games because of the whiff of disbelief." Two years of "relentless scandal have been bruising for credulity," but the IAAF head believes that people should "simply appreciate the brilliance" of Mo Farah, whose double distance Gold was achieved while his coach, Alberto Salazar, was being investigated by the US Anti-Doping Agency. Coe said that "he can sympathise because his own feats also attracted suspicion." Should "adulation for Farah come with a USADA-stamped caveat?" Coe said, “No, absolutely not. There are some systems where you can’t have that presumption of innocence any more, but Mo -- and I am not here as his spokesman or his defender -- has made all his readings public." As he enters his second year as IAAF president, Coe "wants sweeping changes from athletes and officials." He believes that WADA may "now be outdated and unable to catch the cheats." Coe: "Is the same organization responsible for the regulatory framework going to be your world policeman? Nobody wants to talk about it, but there needs to be a grown-up discussion with WADA and the IOC. WADA was set up in 1999 and the world has changed." Change also needs to be "wrought by athletes." He added, "It is not enough for clean athletes to sit there and say, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ Are people prepared to stick their heads above the parapet? If an athlete has any doubt at all about a coach then they should show them the door." Coe is about to travel the world "stressing the need for an IAAF integrity unit." He insists this is "neither gimmick nor FIFA ethics-style oxymoron," but an independent body that will remove national federations from the process of imposing bans and "dog-ate-my-homework" excuses (LONDON TIMES, 9/12).
