Spotlight on Coe and Russian Federation at IAAF meeting

Lord Coe has stepped down from his role with Nike amid suggestions of a conflict of interest with his position as head of world athletics.

Coe’s paid advisory role for Nike is not on the agenda of the Monaco meeting and the IAAF says it “has never been seen, nor is it seen, as a matter of ethical concern”.

Coe said: “I did not lobby anyone on behalf of the Eugene 2021 bid”.

In April this year the hosting rights were surprisingly awarded without a bidding process, much to the surprise of the Swedish city of Gothenburg that was in the process of preparing to present its own case. “We do want to be able to report real progress by the time we get to our Council meeting in March of next year”.

Russia, a track and field power, is now suspended from worldwide competition, possibly including next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, for allowing systematic, widespread doping.

However, Diack is now under criminal investigation from French authorities in suspicion of corruption and money laundering having allegedly taken bribes to cover up positive and suspicious doping test results.

Sent in January 2015 from Craig Masback, a marketing executive for Nike, to the owners of a track and field venue in Eugene called Track Town USA, the e-mail implies that Coe, referred to as “Seb”, had been in touch about the 2021 championship. The report also said Russian state officials must have known about the systemic doping.

On Tuesday evening, a leaked internal Nike email appeared to show him supporting the bid of Eugene – the United States city with close links to the company – to host the 2021 IAAF World Athletics Championships.

The IAAF said he had also closed the president’s office “Villa Miraflores” and handed it back to the Principality of Monaco. “This was a democratic decision of the IAAF Council”.

The council approved an integrity unit which is to look at various aspects from anti-doping to manipulation, and also looked at major changes within the IAAF.

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

Russia’s anti-doping agency announced on Thursday that two Russian weightlifters, two professional cyclists and a sport dancer have been banned for doping. “We looked at an organizational restructure, radically altering the way the organizations works and how it connects to the rest of the athletics family”, Coe said.