IAAF President Questioned Over Role In 2021 World Championships

IAAF president Seb Coe is being questioned for his involvement with Nike and the 2021 World Championships after it was suggested that Coe lobbied his predecessor in the bidding process, according to the BBC.

The American city of Eugene was awarded hosting rights in April without a bidding process, much to the surprise of the Swedish city of Gothenburg, which was at the time preparing for a bid presentation in November 2016.

The city is closely linked to Nike, which the IAAF president is an ambassador for.

When asked if he had ever discussed the Eugene 2021 bid with any Nike employee, official or executives, Coe responded: “Not unless I was asked if Eugene should rebid, to which I would have replied “yes” given how close they came to winning and the strength of their bid”.

However, Bjorn Eriksson, the leader of Gothenburg’s bid and the former head of Interpol, has called for an investigation into the process and Lord Coe’s role in the decision. “After their narrow defeat (to Doha) for the 2019 world championships I encouraged them to re-enter another bidding cycle as they had a strong bid”.

“No, I did not lobby anyone on behalf of the Eugene 2021 bid”, Coe said.

However, Eriksson claimed that he had been personally assured by both Coe and Diack – who was arrested this month on suspicion of bribery and corruption – that Gothenburg would get a chance to bid for 2021.

The IAAF also includes a link on that questions and answers page to what the BBC described as an “internal Nike email” from Craig Masback, the director of business affairs for Nike’s Global Sports Marketing, to Vin Lananna of Track Town U.S., who led Eugene’s bid for the championships, and Robert Fasulo. “That’s for the sport, for everybody involved”, he said.

Collins wrote on Twitter: “Seb Coe should end his job with Nike if he is to continue as president of the IAAF”.

IAAF president Coe makes no secret that he gets a retainer from Nike.

“The perception of conflicts of interest is too great”, the Conservative party legislator tweeted.

IAAF foregoes bidding to award world champs to Eugene.

The BBC said yesterday that Coe had been given £67,000 (RM428,400) of public money towards his presidential election campaign, a figure he has publicly acknowledged.

“The situation was unusual but not unprecedented”. A bid process did not take place when Osaka was awarded the 2007 World Championships.