IAAF President Sebastian Coe "has denied that he misled a British Parliamentary committee investigating doping in sport" when he appeared before it last December, according to Mitch Phillips of REUTERS. Central to Coe's evidence was his "insistence that he did not know the specific detail of an email" sent to him by former London Marathon Race Dir David Bedford, which Coe says he sent to the IAAF Ethics Commission "without opening the attachments." Bedford told the Parliamentary Committee this month that he was "surprised to hear that Coe had not read the attachments" of the message sent in '14, and Committee Chair Damian Collins said that Bedford's evidence had raised questions over "the timing and extent of Lord Coe's knowledge of these allegations." A message sent by Coe to IAAF Ethics Committee Chair Michael Beloff, and released by the Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday, suggested Coe was "aware of the detail of the allegations." Coe's message to Beloff referred to the receipt "documentation of serious allegations being made by and on behalf of the Russian female athlete (Liliya) Shobukhova from David Bedford." Coe added, "The purpose of this note is of course to advise you that I have now been made aware of the allegations." Coe, however, said that he "did not know the specifics of Bedford's claim and explained why in a four-page email to Collins this week which was made public by the committee" (REUTERS, 1/31). The BBC's Mark Daly reported the emails "cast fresh light on the issue" of what Coe knew -- and when -- about "the burgeoning Russian corruption and doping scandal which has blighted world athletics." Collins: "Whatever excuse he gives, it is clear that Lord Coe decided not to share with the committee information that was relevant to our inquiry on doping in sport. The committee asked him about his knowledge of doping in Russian athletics and of corruption within the sport. In his answers, he gave the impression that he was unaware of specific allegations." Shadow Minister for Sport Rosena Allin-Khan said, "These are very troubling allegations. The release of these emails by the select committee casts serious doubts over the evidence previously given by Lord Coe to the inquiry." Questions remain as to why Coe, if he was "unaware of the detail of the allegations," would state to Beloff he had "now been made aware of the serious allegations" being made by, and on behalf of, Shobukhova. Collins said, "It was not possible to know this, without some knowledge of the attachments contained in the email, as all David Bedford's email to Lord Coe said was that the documents he was sending to him related to 'an issue that is being investigated by the IAAF ethics commission'" (BBC, 1/31).
