Doha (AFP)
His reelection is not a surprise, he was the only candidate. But the Briton Sebastian Coe was mainly voted on Wednesday by the Congress of the International Federation (IAAF) which has led to his head, despite a first mandate full of pitfalls.
A former stadium hero, a two-time 1,500-meter Olympic champion, the 62-year-old Briton savored a standing ovation on Wednesday in the glamorous atmosphere of the Sheraton Hotel in Doha. He was unanimously re-elected (203 out of 203 votes) for four more years at the helm of world athletics.
The plenary assembly of the IAAF therefore welcomed the assessment of the British giving him a blank check for the rest despite four stormy years, two days before the start of the controversial Doha World (heat, investigation for corruption, lack of popular craze).
"I am very happy to see how the sport has evolved and no one in the sport has done as much as we do against doping and corruption," said Coe.
This former Conservative MP has indeed had to deal with the thorny Russian issue, whose federation has been suspended since November 2015 and the revelation of a vast institutional doping scandal. Athletics, in line with its president, has adopted a "hard" line, remaining for several months the only international organization to suspend Russia.
An investigation launched this week by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on the possible falsification of data from the Moscow laboratory, essential for WADA's investigations, could lead to the opposite movement, giving cause to athletics, threatening the Russia's presence at the Tokyo Games in 2020.
- Corruption Pact -
Another sensitive topic, much more controversial, Coe and the IAAF have pushed to enforce a new regulation that prevents some athletes with differences in sexual development, like the South African Caster Semenya, from competing in the 400m to the mile (1.609m ), except to follow a treatment to lower their testosterone level.
Semenya, supported by South Africa, is contesting the ruling with the Swiss Supreme Court after losing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Above all, Coe took charge in 2015 of a sport in the doldrums, plagued by the alleged corruption pact that bound Russia and the Diack clan, the former president Lamine (1999-2015) and his son Papa Massata.
While the Senegalese was sent to the Paris Criminal Court for "active and passive bribery", "breach of trust" and "organized money laundering" for obtaining Russian funds in exchange for the indulgence of the anti-doping IAAF, Coe (62) can be proud of having taken up the challenge of standardization of the institution by embarking on a series of reforms.
- "Develop athletics" -
He pushed for the creation in 2017 of the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), an independent governance structure responsible for judging ethics and doping issues.
The redesign of the calendar is in full swing, while the Diamond League must adopt a new formula next season, with fewer meetings and competitions to appeal to television.
The boss of the first Olympic sport has also made the conquest of the general public one of the priorities of his second term at a time when athletics is struggling to see emerging new headliners, two years after the retirement of sprint legend Usain Bolt.
"It was four difficult, difficult years, the first two, we set up a reform project, the last two have been about their implementation, and now we can start developing athletics, raising awareness beyond in the world of athletics and put sport back into a perception of service, service, that the public is more engaged, with a coordinated schedule, "said Sebastian Coe.
© 2019 AFP