World Athletics has ‘responsibility’ to combat gender-based violence – Lord Coe

World Athletics president Lord Coe says his organisation is committed to combatting gender-based violence following a year marked by the tragic death of Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei.

Cheptegei’s former partner was accused of setting the Ugandan athlete on fire in a petrol attack in Kenya and the 33-year-old, who had just returned from the Paris 2024 Games, later died of her extensive injuries.

The World Athletics council – working alongside the Athletes’ Commission and Gender Leadership Taskforce – earlier this month committed to taking action, identifying campaigning against gender-based violence as a priority.

While Lord Coe freely admits there are limitations to what a sporting federation is best-placed or able to do, he insisted: “I’m just not walking away from the responsibility that we have.

“This is not unique to Africa. Sadly, the high-profile case that grabbed everybody’s attention was on that continent, so what I’m really trying to understand is the nature and scale of the challenge and how we can sensibly bring resources to the table.

“I want to bring the right people to the table and if World Athletics can help do that, that’s great.”

In 2022, runner Damaris Muthee Mutua became the second female athlete in the space of a year to be killed in the Kenyan training town of Iten after Olympian and world 10,000 metres bronze medallist Agnes Tirop was found stabbed to death.

In the same week Cheptegei’s death was announced, American gymnast Kara Welsh was found fatally shot in Wisconsin, her boyfriend the accused.

Like Lord Coe, the World Athletics Athletes’ Commission said it “recognises that the sport may not have the power to implement policy due to lack of jurisdiction outside of the sporting landscape” but feels it “can use the space in which it does have jurisdiction to drive change through three main areas: raising awareness, education, and lobbying for change.”

Lord Coe said gender-based violence had “disfigured elements of the sport in the last year”, adding: “Although these are horrendous issues that are not directly related to the field of play, we have a responsibility to see what we can do.”

The former Conservative MP is eager to collaborate with external stakeholders and is planning a trip to Kenya to partake in “some pretty high-level discussions” next year, while a “large sportswear manufacturer” has “identified some resource”.

Internally, the two-time Olympic champion and his team will be looking at World Athletics safeguarding frameworks to see if there is a possibility of “extending that meaningfully and practically into this other area.

He added: “Clearly it’s not an issue we are dealing with in competition or on the field of play. It’s a pathology that goes beyond that.”

Former British Olympic Association chair Lord Coe is one of seven candidates currently in the running to succeed Thomas Bach as International Olympic Committee president, a decision that will be made at the 144th IOC Session in March.

He was first elected president of World Athletics – then IAAF – in 2015, and last year was elected for a third term to end in 2027.

This year, Lord Coe controversially became the first international sport governing body president to introduce prize money for Olympic champions (50,000 US dollars/£39,332), with plans to also reward silver and bronze medallists at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

While several new independent athletics ventures have recently launched –  most notably Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track, debuting next year – Lord Coe brushed off assertions that they might be seen as “disruptions.”

“I’m actually pleased that people are seeing this sport as something to invest in. I’ve always encouraged people to do their own thing and be innovative. It’s a tide that can rise and benefit everybody.

“I see no reason to sit there thinking this is anything other than having more athletes competing.

“If the prize money is there, that’s going to do what I always wanted, which was to give them more welfare. The athletes themselves will make judgements.”