Lord Coe: IAAF president says athletics faces long road

Papa Massata Diack is a former consultant to the IAAF, Balakhnichev is the former president of the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF), Melnikov is a former chief ARAF coach for long distance walkers and runners, and Dolle is the former director of the IAAF’s anti-doping department.

The investigations are the result of information passed on by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Independent Commission, WADA said.

“I’m well aware I’m going to come into a few criticism for those remarks”, Coe said.

World athletics chief Sebastian Coe expressed “shock, anger and sadness” at allegations of high-level bribery to cover up doping in track and field.

After several days of silence, Coe’s fightback on behalf of the sport he was elected to lead just three months ago has begun not a moment too soon. “We shouldn’t kid ourselves”, he added.

‘If it turns out there is something in this, I’ll go back to the process (of how Eugene won the championships). “I’m more determined than ever to create a sport that is accountable, responsible and responsive”.

‘I didn’t have a list of allegations in front of me then, ‘ Coe told BBC 5 Live’s Sportsweek. Understandably, in the light of the allegations that were made at the beginning of the week, that review has been accelerated and I am determined to rebuild and fix the sport with my council colleagues.

“You potentially have a bunch of old men who put a whole lot of extra money in their pockets through extortion and bribes”.

The 82-year-old Diack left office in August after 16 years and his successor, Coe, said he knew nothing about the allegations until being informed by French authorities.

The IAAF president also confirmed he had yet to see the WADA report, which is expected to be critical of both the IAAF and Russian athletics officials.

A co-author of the report, Richard McLaren, told The Sunday Times the report will be a “real game-changer”, adding it will reveal corruption on a “whole different scale… than the Federation Internationale de Football Association scandal”.

“Where there are fragilities in the system that may have allowed extortion, no matter how unsuccessful, we will strengthen them”, said Coe.

When asked if he thought the situation would be shown to involve nations other than Russian Federation, he said: “We’ll have to wait for the basis of the WADA report tomorrow”.

Earlier this week Lamine Diack, former head of the Monaco-based IAAF, was put under formal judicial investigation with two other former IAAF officials by French magistrates who suspect them of corruption.

Coe also vowed a review of internal corporate governance, saying an global firm of independent accountants had been “engaged to undertake a thorough review of operational and financial controls with a view to identifying any weaknesses and to make recommendations for improvements to ensure that the IAAF operates an internal control environment that is best in class”.