Bubka’s big leaps or Coe’s extra mile: IAAF has the options

As the election campaign entered its final stages, Sebastian Coe timed his kick for maximum effect with the kind of us-against-them statement designed to galvanize support in his run for the presidency of track and field’s international governing body. Coe, a British former Conservative Party lawmaker and a member of the House of Lords, a two-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion and chief organizer of the 2012 London Olympics, is contesting the IAAF presidential election against Ukrainian pole vault great Sergei Bubka, an Olympic and six-time world championship gold medalist. But with the IAAF under intense criticism following media allegations that it has failed to act on evidence of widespread blood doping, the 58-year-old Coe raised the rhetoric earlier this month by describing the accusations as a “declaration of war.” While both candidates called for an overhaul of the way the anti-doping program is run, Coe was more forceful against critics who argued that the IAAF had been negligent in not pursuing the cases. We should come out fighting.” Coe, widely considered the favorite in the IAAF election, which will be held Wednesday on the eve of the world championships in Beijing, recommended an independent anti-doping agency in track and field, “a system that removes any perception out there that there is either conflict or complicity.” Bubka issued a statement saying a “more proactive” approach was desperately needed. “With the right approach we can increase revenues across the globe and I hope I have shown, particularly with London 2012, that I possess the drive, the energy and the skills to deliver commercial success and global reach.” In his “‘Taking Athletics To New Heights” program, the 51-year-old Bubka, who won gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics for the Soviet Union and broke the world record 35 times in his career, said engaging the youth was a major agenda.