Russian athletics federation accepts full suspension over doping scandal

Coe, a double Olympic Games 1,500 metres champion, will appear before a British Parliamentary committee next week when he will be grilled again about his role in the IAAF.

After a year that has seen Federation Internationale de Football Association and now the IAAF exposed, public tolerance and credulity for those who run sport is waning, even for Coe, a man who has enjoyed a decade of acclaim and good press for his Olympic exploits.

“I’m grateful for that advice but it is clear that perception and reality have become horribly mangled”, he said.

Coe told a news conference after an IAAF council meeting that “I have stepped down from my ambassadorial role with Nike”. Eugene was awarded the 2021 outdoor track and field championships in April, not too long after losing the bidding for the 2019 world championships to Doha.

The global head of athletics, Sebastian Coe, has promised to do all he can to clean up the battered reputation of his sport and the organisation that runs it and has already made changes in the way the IAAF operates in Monaco.

On Thursday the IAAF council meets in Monte Carlo, where it would discuss the path Russian Federation must follow to have its suspension from the sport lifted after it was banned on the recommendation of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for a programme of widespread doping and corruption.

It is also the case that while his IAAF role is unpaid, the Nike arrangement is part of a complex deal linked to Coe’s day job as chairman of sports marketing company CSM.

Mutko said elections to replace almost the entire ARAF leadership would be held in the next two months.

But in the light of the 82-year-old being investigated by French authorities over a doping corruption scandal, many observers questioned the validity and transparency of the decision. “We covered several topics but I asked specifically about 2021”.

The statements came after a council meeting where the Russian federation ARAF waived its right to a hearing and accepted a full suspension in connection with a major doping affair.

With Russian athletes likely to miss out on the World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon, in March, the race is on for an effective roadmap to be put in place to ensure the country complies with WADA guidelines to allow the athletes to compete at next year’s Rio Olympics.

Ever since Lord Coe became the most powerful man in athletics earlier this summer, he’s faced tough questions about whether or not it was right that he retained a paid ambassadorial role for Nike, worth we think £100,000 a year.