Dubai: Sebastian Coe, one the greatest middle distance runners of his era, was at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on Friday.
While the world records he created both outdoors and indoors remained unbeaten for many years, today he is in the running for the president’s post of track and field’s world governing body — the International Association of Athletics Federations.
Coe, who successfully led London’s bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, has proved his calibre as a fine sports administrator, and he wants more sportsmen to follow his lead.
“I have always encouraged former competitors to be involved in administration because, when you are putting together an event, you can look at the problems through the eyes of an athlete. They should be encouraged and given every opportunity to be part of shaping the future of the sport,” he said.
Coe, who won 1,500-metre gold at the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games, also wants more youngsters to take up athletics.
“The biggest challenge is getting more young people into this sport. Despite many intiatives, we still struggle. We have to look more at the product. Ask why did these guys love it and what attracts young people into it?” the 58-year-old said.
“I have four kids all under the age of 22. They all see the world in a very different way. We need to understand the landscape they live in and make athletics attractive. We need to have a movement, not just a sport.
“First of all, we need to move towards a wholly independent [doping] testing system. When I was in government, back in the 1980s, I implemented an entirely out of competition random independent dope testing system. It then became the model for everybody.
“My policy is that if you don’t test you won’t catch. I would have a sport that is protecting the clean athletes and that is why we test. It is not to just take out the cheats, but to protect these people.
“We test more than any other sport. Usain Bolt is the most tested athlete in the world.
“There is a lot of misunderstanding about it. We test all the time and we had over 30,000 tests done in our sport. We have blood passports and we have done more than any other sport to try and push for clean athletics.
“Testing has got to be absolutely on a level-playing field and if you have wholly independent testing it will help. This is about trust for competitors, trust for spectators, trust for sponsors, trust for parents. If you are encouraging your child into a sport, you want to know the governance around that sport are good.”
Coe also has a message for budding athletes: “It is a fantastic sport, a fantastic way of life and the people who have a responisibilty in shaping that sport have the biggest responsibility to protect and encourage young people.”
