I’ve been in training for IOC role for the best part of my life – Sebastian Coe
Coe is one of seven candidates to succeed outgoing president Thomas Bach.
Sebastian Coe has said the Olympic movement is central to his identity and his life after making his pitch to be International Olympic Committee president to the organisation’s members in Lausanne on Thursday.
The double Olympic gold medallist, who is the current president of World Athletics, said this was a role he had been “training for for the best part of my life”.
He is one of seven candidates to succeed outgoing president Thomas Bach, with the election set to take place on March 20 at the IOC Session in Greece, and sees himself as a reformer keen to protect female sport and provide greater commercial recognition to athletes.
Each candidate gave a 15-minute presentation to IOC members on Thursday morning.
“It’s something that I genuinely feel I’ve been in training for for the best part of my life.
“I think that we have an opportunity to build another lustrous chapter in the future of this extraordinary movement.
“I feel very privileged and very, very honoured to have been a small part of it. It is what I am. It is who I am, and it’s why I’m here today.”
Coe has spoken previously about the need for the IOC to provide “clear-cut” policies to protect female sport, admitting he was “uncomfortable” watching the women’s Olympic boxing tournament in Paris.
Two fighters – Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting – won gold medals despite having been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships for allegedly failing gender eligibility criteria.
Three of Coe’s rivals for the presidency – Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe, Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch and Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, were on the EB at that time.
Coventry, who is widely reported to be Bach’s personal favoured successor, admitted there was a need to “learn lessons” from what happened in Paris.
“As a female athlete, you want to be able to walk onto a level playing field,” she said.
“Always, it’s our job as the IOC to ensure that we are going to create that environment, and that we are going to not just create a level playing field, but we’re going to create an environment that allows for every athlete to feel safe.
“That is our job along the road. We’re going to learn lessons, and we’re going to get stronger, and we’re going to make better rules and regulations.”
All candidates made their presentations at a closed-doors event in Lausanne, with each presentation strictly limited to 15 minutes with no scope for questions afterwards.
“It’s really important the membership fully understand the nature and the style of the people that are putting themselves forward, and that can only be done with personal interaction.”
Also in the running for the IOC’s top job are international cycling federation (UCI) president David Lappartient, president of the international ski federation (FIS) Johan Eliasch and the president of the international gymnastics federation (FIG) Morinari Watanabe.
