Sebastian Coe on Thursday "all but confirmed" that he would run for a second term as president of the IAAF to "continue the fight against doping and complete his mission to rejuvenate the sport," according to Nick Mulvenney of REUTERS. The 62-year-old British former Olympic 1,500m champion was elected to the post in '15 "amid the full storm of a major doping scandal" and has spent much of his term "trying to battle the use of banned substances in track and field." At the Leaders Sport Business Summit in Abu Dhabi, Coe said, "I think we've made a very good start in the first few years. The first two or three years were very clearly about reform, about creating structures that were safe and secure, about providing foundations that would give confidence .. that we are a sport worth investing time, resource and finance into. The next leg of the journey has to be about innovation, it has to be about growing the sport, creating an exciting experience, particularly for young people. That's the fun bit, so clearly I would like to be part of it" (REUTERS, 1/31). In Abu Dhabi, Rupert Hawksley reported Coe is "proud" of what he has achieved in his four years, even if he jokes that "it just feels longer." Coe: "There is a lot of change that we need to embrace in the sport. I think we’ve made a pretty reasonable start, some of it in fairly challenging circumstances. It’s a matter for the sport but I’d like to be given the opportunity." His mind is "still buzzing with ideas about how to improve athletics and broaden its appeal." He said, "No sport is more accessible or has the kind of numbers we have. We have hundreds of millions of people in the course of a week who register as leisure runners. That's a massive asset for any sport to have" (THE NATIONAL, 1/31).
