What next for Lord Coe following IAAF election?
By Geraint Hughes, Sky Sports News HQ
Last Updated: 19/08/15 8:52am
Sky Sports News HQ reporter Geraint Hughes tells the story of how Lord Sebastian Coe was voted president of athletics' governing body and what is first on his agenda...
The IAAF is experiencing some challenging times right now with doping claims circling the sport of athletics.
On top of that, they have had to organise a presidential election for the first time since Lamine Diack took charge in 1999.
The candidates hadn't had much sleep, pressing the flesh and lobbying into the small hours; 213 votes from 214 federations were at stake.
Before the IAAF congress began, both Sergei Bubka and Seb Coe walked through the huge entrance hall at the China National Convention Centre. China builds on a grand scale.
Bubka came in first; smiling, and nodding his head. I asked: "Are you confident?"
"Very, very confident," was his reply.
Coe appeared outwardly less so, despite his campaign team telling me prior to the vote that they believed they had done as much as they could and that, unofficially, they had enough votes to win.
Coe clearly didn't want to appear too confident.
And so the two candidates, both track and field legends, filed into the grand hall, their fate in the hands of the IAAF's member federations.
Once a voting system of both electronic and paper ballot was mastered, buttons were pressed and the result - 207 votes cast, 115 backing Coe and 92 backing Bubka - saw Coe voted in as the new IAAF president.
He stood up and spoke, saying he has fought all his life for athletics and would continue to, that no task was he greater prepared for and no job had he wanted to do more. He told the IAAF contingent he would "not let them down".
And that was that.
For Coe, a huge, almost unexpected challenge lays ahead; to restore athletics' credibility for starters, and then to institute a tough stance on doping.
In fact, both candidates have no choice than to effectively take this issue by the scruff of its neck and sort it out. Bubka has been made Coe's vice-president.
So there is little chance to grandstand and enjoy the moment too much, as so much needs to be addressed. Athletics' future depends on the actions of its new president - Lord Sebastian Coe.
