Two days before the start of the World Championships in Budapest (August 19-27), the former world-class runner Sebastian Coe was elected President of the World Athletics Federation for the third time. His representative Sergei Bubka is retiring.
The 66-year-old Briton received 192 of the 195 votes in the election in Budapest with three abstentions – 98.5 percent. Coe, who has led the association since 2015, was the sole candidate for the post. He has now been elected for the last four years until 2027.
He was “deeply honored,” Coe told delegates at the Hungexpo Convention Center. “We still have a lot of unfinished business to do – let’s get this baby home.”
Clear position on the Russia question
Eight years ago, the two-time 1,500 m Olympic champion succeeded the scandal-ridden Senegalese Lamine Diack, who had led the world association like a landlord for years. Coe initiated important reforms and also made a name for himself on the Russia question. For years, the Russian association RusAf was banned because of a huge doping scandal, and neither Russian nor Belarusian athletes are allowed to start in Budapest because of the attack on Ukraine.
“The death and destruction” that the world has endured since the attack on Ukraine “only strengthened my resolve on this matter,” Coe said recently.
Bubka withdraws
The election at the World Federation Congress in Budapest was chaired by Sergej Bubka, the main vice-president. It was the last official act before his resignation after more than two decades in the association’s leadership.
The 59-year-old, who ran against Coe in 2015, did not stand for re-election this time after criticism for his ties to Russia. The pole vault legend gave up the post of President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine some time ago.
Coe Successor to IOC President Bach?
Coe, head of organization for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, had not recently positioned himself on his medium-term plans. The last term of office of the German IOC President Thomas Bach ends in 2025; Coe is considered a possible successor.
“I haven’t dealt with the topic yet,” Coe told the “Spiegel”, although the former member of the British House of Commons had recently neither confirmed nor ruled out a candidacy for the most powerful post in world sport from 2025: “My whole The focus is on the upcoming World Cup, which has to be a great success. When that’s over, I can think about what the next chapter will look like.”
Just one year after the title fights in Eugene, USA, the track and field elite will meet in Budapest for the next world championships. Around 2,000 athletes from more than 200 countries will again be fighting for medals in 49 competitions on the banks of the Danube until August 27th.