IAAF president Sebastian Coe steps down from role with Nike

Making it clear he had surrendered his role reluctantly, Coe said: “I don’t believe it was a conflict of interests”.

Mr. Coe said his decision to part ways with Nike was a part of an effort to renew trust in IAAF’s leadership.

Eugene is close to Nike’s OR headquarters and was awarded the championships earlier this year, without a formal bidding process – when Coe’s predecessor, Lamine Diack, was still president.

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.

However, as the athletics world battles a succession of doping and corruption issues, the situation clearly became untenable, the former Olympic track star said.

Russian Federation has accepted its full suspension from global athletics without a hearing, the IAAF has said.

IAAF President Sebastian Coe called it the toughest sanction that can be applied at this time.

Coe spent most of the 40-minute news conference answering questions about his decision to cut his ties with sportswear company Nike and though the Russian Federation situation was expected to be the main topic of the council meeting, he said it had only been “touched upon”.

Coe insisted, however, that he had not been responsible for the decision that was made in April.

Sebastian Coe said yesterday he will step down as ambassador for sports goods makers Nike because it harms the ruling athletics body IAAF he presides over since August.

French prosecutors are investigating allegations that Diack, his sons and others at the IAAF were involved in corruption and money-laundering and an alleged blackmail scheme that squeezed bribes from athletes in return for promises to hide their positive doping tests. Nike paid Coe more than $200,000 while his position with the IAAF is unpaid.

It follows conflict of interest claims over the 2021 World Championships going to Eugene, Oregon, where Nike is based.

Last week, the IAAF set up preliminary criteria for the reinstatement of the Russian track team, and said an appointed inspection team would begin its work to determine the efficacy of reforms in Russia no later than January 1.

“In our own internal reviews, the criminal investigations that are now ongoing… or any of the recommendations or conclusions from the independent commission report to WADA, if any of those show or conclude impropriety, then action will be taken”, Coe warned.