Lord Coe vows to clean up athletics after WADA report
Last Updated: 10/11/15 8:28pm
Lord Coe has claimed he "won't fail" to clean up athletics after a WADA commission said Russia should be banned from international competition.
The recommendation from the independent three-man panel, headed by former World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound, came amid accusations of doping, cover-ups and extortion in the country.
International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) president Coe earlier gave Russia until Friday to respond to the accusations of systematic doping but said at a Microsoft event in London on Tuesday that he would not fail to clean up the sport following the revelations.
"I won't fail, but I also accept that this is a huge journey," he said. "This isn't six weeks to fix things. This is a long journey and we have to start somewhere, and I know what I have to do.
"It's actually just nice to be here for some distraction."
He added: "You have to back your own instincts. I have to do this without fear or favour, and I fully accept that I may not even be around when the full fruits of what I need to do are probably going to be recognised.
"But I will do that now and I'm going to back my own instincts, and every day I'm going to remind myself why I walked into that athletics club at the age of 11 and the things that people did to help me along the way.
"I want to make sure I'm surrounded by people on that journey who are not just simply there because they've got a plastic accreditation around their neck, get the best seats in the stadium, and have courtesy cars take them everywhere.
"I've got to make the journey with people that I really know are absolutely, at their core, lovers of my sport."
He said he launched a review the day after he won the IAAF presidency and he is speeding it up in the face of this week's report.
"Clearly in light of what has emerged in the last week I've accelerated that and I know the people that I will make this journey with," Coe added.
Coe is expected to appear before the culture, media and sport select committee before Christmas to answer questions on his handling of the doping scandal and his links with sportswear giant Nike.
Committee member Damian Collins MP confirmed he would ask Coe about his role as a global ambassador for Nike, who have sponsored athletes found guilty of doping in the past.
"I don't think it is right he should have that paid role for just one big sports brand," he told Sky Sports News HQ.
"But when that brand, through its sponsorship, may be linked to issues that are under investigation, that creates a natural conflict, so I think at a time when athletics has to demonstrate that it is prepared to be whiter than white, to learn the mistakes from the past, I think he needs to create a clear break there and set himself apart from Nike and not take on that role or other roles like it while he is president of the IAAF."
