Lord Coe is the right guy for the job says Ed Warner
Wednesday 19 August 2015 09:57, UK
UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner has backed Lord Sebastian Coe to tackle the doping problem head on after he was elected president of the International Association of Athletics Federations.
Former Olympic 1500m champion Coe was voted in over Ukraine's ex-Olympic pole vaulter Sergey Bubka by 115 votes to 92 at a meeting of the 214 athletics federations in Beijing.
The 58-year-old, whose beloved sport is currently embroiled in perhaps its most significant and widespread doping scandal, said he would reform athletics in his manifesto and Warner believes he will do so.
Warner said: "We've got the right guy leading the sport through difficult times in the coming years.
"It's going to be a multi-year task to demonstrate to the public that the sport not only is clean, but wants to be clean and will be clean in the future.
"It's an arms race between the cheats and those chasing them and we probably haven't spent enough and pursued the cheats with enough vigour in recent years.
"Coming from Great Britain where I think our own anti-doping agency is very high class, where the commitment to clean sport is deeply ingrained, I'd like to see the whole of the world have the same ideals and the same vigilance.
"If there's one person that I know will pursue cheats to all four corners of the earth it is Seb, who's been passionate about his anti-doping commitment over many years, from a competitor, through all his years as an administrator."
Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport between 2010 and 2013, added: "It is a fantastic result in two ways. It is great for us as a country that our best-known sports leader is now in charge of the major Olympic sport, but in a sense more importantly, it is great for athletics because athletics has got some difficult times ahead and it needs a leader of real stature to guide it through.
"Athletics above all needs a really strong and credible leader, a leader who can grow the sport, because it has slightly lost its way.
Athletics above all needs a really strong and credible leader, a leader who can grow the sport, because it has slightly lost its way.
"I think Seb's unique blend of experience as an iconic athlete himself and as a sports administrator who has won a bid and delivered a Summer Games, which are the two most difficult tasks in sport, makes him the perfect man at this time for the sport."
European Athletics president Svein Arne Hansen said: "I would like to congratulate my friend Sebastian on being elected as the president of the IAAF - I am looking forward to working closely with him over the coming years for the good of our sport."
A statement from USA Track and Field read: "We have been impressed with his vision for the sport, his dedication to its cause and his demonstrated effectiveness as a leader."
British Olympic Association chief executive Bill Sweeney said: "On behalf of everyone at the British Olympic Association I'd like to congratulate Seb on his election as president of the IAAF.
"As one of the leading figures in global sports administration, a double Olympic gold medallist and chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee, there is no better man to lead the federation going forward and to oversee the changes I know he feels are vital for the future of the sport.
"We wish him luck in his new role. The sport of athletics could not be in better hands as we enter a crucial period leading up to an Olympic Games."
