TOMORROW Sebastian Coe begins his presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Since his election 12 days ago he has been spoken of as the man to save his sport, as if athletics was about to die. His first day as president-elect was singularly unimpressive.
Coe was asked whether he would be giving up his £90,000-a-year ambassadorial role with sponsors Nike. With astonishing arrogance, he bristled at the question and replied that he would not. Consider for a second that he was involved in the decision to award Eugene, Oregon, the 2021 world championships and that he was also involved in the decision to award Portland, Oregon, the 2016 World Indoor Championships.
Nike’s headquarters are in Oregon and, of course, the company wanted those championships to come to their backyard. There is no suggestion Coe was influenced by being on Nike’s payroll but in these situations perception is as important as reality. How can there not be a perceived conflict of interest when a sports administrator is involved in a decision that affects a sponsor from whom he is receiving approximately £1,800 a week? The president needs to end this relationship with Nike. Now.
And this relationship is not his greatest difficulty. On Friday, Sergey Shubenkov won the 110m hurdles final at the world championships in Beijing, the first gold at these championships for a Russian athlete. At the 2013 world championships they won more golds than any other country. Shubenkov will probably be Russia’s only winner but before we applaud, we need to check his blood values going back over a number of years.
This is because the testimony of former Russian Anti-doping Agency (RUSADA) employee Vitaliy Stepanov and his wife, the 800m runner Yuliya Stepanova, and evidence from 12,000 IAAF blood tests leaked to the Sunday Times and German broadcasters ARD/WDR have shown that doping in Russia has been endemic.
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Coe has been equivocal on how the IAAF might deal with the problem. First he said Russia could be banned. Then he changed tack, encouraging us to feel sympathy for a Russia who have been going through “a difficult time.”
This softer approach was echoed by Sir Craig Reedie, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), who said in a BBC interview that he did not support bans for nations guilty of persistent doping. The stories told by the Stepanovs is of a country where the national coaches, the national federation, the national anti-doping agency and the national anti-doping laboratory were all complicit with a system designed to win by cheating.
If these allegations are substantiated by Wada’s independent commission, how can Russia not be banned? According to emails seen by the Mail on Sunday, Reedie has been doing his best to maintain good relations with new RUSADA chief Natalya Zhelanova and the Russia sports minister, Vitaly Mutko. To Zhelanova, Reedie wrote: “It is my view that the content of the programmes was based on a period of time that pre-dates the changes in legislation and the investment made.”
He continued: “On a personal level I value the relationship I have with Minister Mutko and I shall be grateful if you will inform him that there is no intention in Wada to do anything to affect that relationship.”
Why the promise not to “affect the relationship” with the Russia sports minister when Wada’s report into Russian doping has yet to be published? Why cosy up to Mutko in the first place? Why not consider all the clean athletes who were beaten by dopers over the past decade?
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As for Mutko, it’s hard to understand why any anti-doping leader would be sending him supportive emails. On Thursday he spoke to Russian news agency TASS about the allegations contained in the German television documentaries. He described the methods used by the filmmakers as “disgusting.”
He was referring to conversations secretly taped by the Stepanovs, who knew that unless they got the cheats on tape their story of pervasive corruption would not be believed. Hajo Seppelt, the German journalist who produced the documentaries, sent the evidence to Mutko. “I do not want to interfere with this, I do not want to read these,” the minister told TASS. “But if you come into the room of the other athletes and begin to record it, then it means that someone advised you to do so... It is disgusting.”
Mutko would prefer to shoot the messengers, as would the Russian Athletics Federation. The IAAF and Wada need courageous people like the Stepanovs in the fight against doping. They are now living in hiding, unable to return to their homeland. So far, Reedie and Coe have performed like politicians. And while doing so, they betray clean athletes.
Russia at the World Champs
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2015 Beijing 6th place (2 golds, 1 silver, 1 bronze, 4 medals in total)*
2013 Moscow 1st (7G, 4S, 6B, 17T)
2011 Daegu 2nd (9G, 4S, 6B, 19T)
2009 Berlin 4th (4G, 3S, 6B, 13T)
2007 Osaka 3rd (4G, 7S, 3B, 14T)
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2005 Helsinki 2nd (7G, 7S, 4B, 18T)
*after day eight