IAAF President Sebastian Coe was elected for a second term at the 52nd IAAF Congress in Doha on Wednesday (25) while Ximena Restrepo, Sergey Bubka, Geoffrey Gardner and Nawaf Bin Mohammed Al Saud were elected Vice Presidents. All 203 voting members of Congress voted for Coe; there were no abstained votes. Restrepo, the 1992 Olympic […]
At today’s annual meeting between the IAAF and its Area Associations, the six continental presidents issued a signed statement offering their full, unequivocal support of Sebastian Coe in his role, his reform proposals and actions as IAAF President now and in the future.
The annual meeting took place on Wednesday (24) at the Marriott Riviera La Porte de Monaco hotel in Cap d’Ail, France on the border with Monaco.
Joining IAAF President Sebastian Coe and interim CEO / General Secretary Jean Gracia were Area Association presidents Hamad Kalkaba Malboum (Confederation of African Athletics and IAAF Vice President), Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad (Asian Athletics and IAAF Vice President), Svein Arne Hansen (European Athletics), Geoff Gardner (Oceania Athletics) and Roberto Gesta de Melo (CONSUDATLE). In the absence of NACAC President Victor Lopez, NACAC was represented by its General Secretary Michael Serralta.
IAAF Vice President Sergey Bubka and IAAF Treasurer Jose Maria Odriozola were also present at the meeting.
Following head-to-head meetings among the six associations during the morning, Coe gave an official introduction at the start of the afternoon plenary sessions.
The afternoon discussions covered budgets, Regional Development Centres and High Performance Training Centres. Each association also gave an overview presentation.
Multiple Award winning Tennis Star Continues to win award after award and it undoubtable that they are all well deserved, barely hours after polling the most votes to win the AP Female Athlete Of The Year Award another top media establishment L’Equipe of France has named Serena Williams as “Champion Of Champions” 2015 alongside Jamaican Sprint Legend Usain Bolt.
Voting for the Campeones de Campeones, started in 1980 and it is done by all the Journalist working at L’Equipe, the award as now become one of the most popular Sports awards across the globe.
previous winners include Tennis number one Novak Djokovic, Sergey Bubka, Zinedine Zidane, Andre Agassi, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, just to name a few.
The L’Equipe Champion Of Champions had been dominated by men through the years as Florence Griffith-Joyner was the only woman to have won it in 1988, In 2012 the Champion Of Champions was split into male and female categories.
This will be Serena’s Third Champion Of Champions award while Usain Bolt is winning it for the fourth time.
During his recent visit to the Congress of the Association of Balkan Athletics Federations (ABAF) in Vrsac, Serbia, IAAF President Seb Coe took the opportunity to update the Member Federations present about his first three weeks in office as IAAF President as well as to commend the ABAF, led by President Dobromir Karamarinov, on its dynamic efforts to create new competition opportunities.
Joined in Vrsac by Sergey Bubka, who will be confirmed by IAAF Council in November as IAAF Senior Vice President, and the President of the European Athletics Association Svein Arne Hansen, President Coe underlined that work is already well underway in evaluating the current resources and structures of the head office, but also emphasised the importance of ensuring that every action and project by the IAAF provides some benefit for the Member Federations and the athletes who they develop.
“The careful process of studying the terms of reference for the IAAF Commissions has now begun and a revamped list of new IAAF Commissions will be finalised by November,” said Coe.
“But hearing the discussions in Vrsac underlines the importance of creating great events in our sport, and I want to use this occasion to announce the creation of a working group to analyse and reform the one-day meeting circuit. This working group will be chaired by Rajne Soderberg, former Meeting Director of the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Stockholm and a member of the IAAF Competition Commission, supported by my IAAF Council Colleague Anna Riccardi, athlete representatives Ricky Simms and Stina Funke, Brussels Diamond League Meeting Director Wilfried Meert and former Competitions Director of the European Association Luciano Barra.
“I am confident that this group will work energetically and creatively to come up with ideas to revitalise the one-day meetings in a way that adds value to the sport’s stakeholders.
“I am also looking forward to announcing soon the full composition of two more working groups which will study two other urgent priorities which is the harmonisation of the international athletics calendar and the ‘World Athletics Series’ renovation project that began in 2014.”
President Coe concluded his trip to Serbia by meeting the country’s Prime Minister Aleksandr Vucic and visiting a new indoor training facility in Belgrade.
“I have been very impressed by the work of the Serbian Athletics Federation President Veselin Jevrosimovic and his team because they are creating an environment which aims to create the infrastructures, the human resources and the awareness which will allow athletics to flourish,” said Coe. “They have also engaged with the Serbian government who have seen how athletics is not just a vehicle for elite achievement but can help them reach national health and education targets.”
Newly elected IAAF President Sebastian Coe today met the entire IAAF HQ staff in Monaco. The gathering took place at the association’s new offices which are situated on Quai Antoine, Port Hercules, Monaco.
“Not only am I happy to be here, I’m relieved,” said Coe, who took office as IAAF President on Monday 31 August. “The last year has been a great test of character for all candidates for IAAF positions, whether president, council, committees and commissions. Today is one of the proudest days of my life.
“I have only had five predecessors as president, each one making an indelible mark on our sport.
“The election has been a good process. It has given the member federations the chance to decide what sport they want. I have flown 778,000km since Christmas, meeting and listening to our member federations. I’m better prepared to serve this sport having gone through that journey.
“The IAAF is here to serve its member federations. We must be a member-federation-focused organisation at all times. They are our strength.
“I see a very bright future for athletics. To deliver this future we must ensure we are open and transparent, that we are relevant and exciting to young people.
“My job is to remove all inhibitors in this organisation so that you (IAAF staff) can do the best work of your life. So that together we can deliver a world class organisation which has respect across the sporting landscape. The IAAF must be a template for best practise and most importantly athlete centred.
“This is a dream come true to be able to shape a sport. We should wake up each morning excited to serve, knowing we have the greatest job in the world. We should be very proud that we are working in this sport. It also needs to be fun. I want people to fall in love with athletics for all the reasons we did.
“The first steps are the review of the structures and resources in Monaco. We must ensure we are an organisation fit for purpose.
“Two members of our senior management team are already known, Nick Davies will be the Director of the President’s Office and Huw Roberts will serve as the IAAF’s senior counsel. Huw is leading a review of our constitution and corporate governances as part of our modernisation process.”
Seb Coe concluded his address by reminding the staff of the Council’s endorsement of his proposal to appoint Sergey Bubka as Senior Vice President, reiterating that “my object as president is to bring the athletics family together”.
IAAF
Today is my first day of office as President of the IAAF. I am very excited and proud to have been given an opportunity to lead our great sport into the new era that lies ahead. I am looking forward to working closely with my colleagues on the IAAF Council, who yesterday accepted my recommendation to appoint Sergey Bubka as our Senior Vice President.
Beijing has been a wonderful edition of the IAAF World Championships. The stadium has been full over nine days, morning and evening, with an energetic and enthusiastic crowd who have been enthralled by the world’s greatest athletes.
Athletics has been at the centre of my life since I was a young boy. Everything I am today can be credited to my experiences and successes in this sport and my mission now is to enhance the sport’s ability to inspire and entertain. Athletics is about sporting performance and success but also about values which have the strongest ethical foundations.
With the support of my Council colleagues, I am determined to ensure that athletics remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement. We will continue to put the interest of athletics first and retain the level of independence necessary to help us do the right thing for our sport.
Our approach will be a simple one: to ensure that the IAAF works in the service of the Member Federations and the athletes.
And I am determined to get out of the starting blocks quickly, so today we begin a detailed review of our existing management structures and use of resources to ensure that within the next 100 days, IAAF Council can approve new systems and teams which are necessary for delivering our ambitious plans. We are committed to ensuring good governance in everything that we do and, as a starting point, our legal team has been asked to conduct an in-depth review of the IAAF Constitution and related governance.
A new Member Federations Relations team has also been created to ensure Member Federations are fully engaged and involved in shaping the future of the sport.
Work has also began on a review and enhancement of our current IAAF Commissions and working groups to ensure that the IAAF Council gets the best possible advice and support moving forwards.
Finally, a working group has been set up to look into the possibility of establishing a new over-arching integrity unit for athletics which would house an anti-doping operation with greater independence and have access to a newly formed independent tribunal to hear doping cases of international level athletes (and support personnel). This will be done without impeding or in any way delaying investigations currently underway.
These are exciting times for athletics and I am delighted to be in a position to help the sport break new barriers.
Seb Coe
IAAF President
Sebastian Coe was elected as the sixth IAAF President at the 50th IAAF Congress in Beijing, China on Wednesday (19).
The voting was as follows (207 IAAF Member Federations cast their votes):
Sebastian Coe (GBR) 115 votes, Sergey Bubka (UKR) 92 votes.
Speaking after the Election Coe said: “I am deeply honoured that our sport has placed its trust in me.
“There is no job I want to do more – nor with greater commitment.”
The Former IAAF Vice-President and Chairman of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games also took to twitter to thank the entire IAAF Family
“Delighted and humbled by the confidence shown in me by the IAAF family – thank you, now the hard work begins”
Coe Also took time out to thank the media “I want to thanks the (member) federations but I also want to thank those that cover and broadcast our sport. We tend to forget that the media is most potent sponsor of our sport; and I will maintain my chairmanship of the media committee.
He takes over from Lamine Diack who was on ground to congratulate him and also Sergey Bubka was later elected Vice-President of the IAAF.
Seb Coe has his work cut out for him as he now as to grapple with the crisis rocking athletics as it concerns doping and he must hit the ground running so as to fulfil all the campaign promises he made.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach today announced that the IOC will launch a free, online education service aimed specifically at Olympians, other elite athletes and their coaches.
The new service, called “The IOC Athlete Learning Gateway”, will go live on 28 May during the 7th IOC Athlete Career Programme Forum in Lima, Peru.
For over a year, more than 4,000 athletes and coaches from around the world have been helping the IOC test and develop the pilot version of the experimental “MOOC” (massive open online courses). Leading academics, sports institutes, sports leaders and Olympians have contributed content for the programme, including courses and live online seminars.
President Bach said: “The long-term interests of athletes are a priority for the IOC. Through Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC has a unique opportunity to act as a bridge between busy athletes and the world’s best academics and learning tools. The IOC Athlete Learning Gateway will allow athletes to shape their futures while still pursuing their athletic careers.”
Recommendation 18 of Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, calls for support to athletes to be strengthened. This includes the development of athlete career programmes with all the relevant stakeholders and increasing engagement with athletes on important topics related to their careers on and off the field of play.
“This is just one of many important new initiatives being driven by the Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms, which will strengthen and improve support for the athletes,” said IOC Athletes’ Commission Chair and Athens 2004 silver medallist Claudia Bokel. “This inspiring free electronic platform will give athletes, wherever they may be in the world and at whatever stage of their athletic career, access to educational material produced by leading academics and athletes. This is an important step forward for the welfare of athletes.”
IOC Entourage Commission Chair and Seoul 1988 gold medallist Sergey Bubka said: “The life of an athlete is extremely busy: they are constantly on the road; they spend a lot of time training. It is very difficult to find the time to study, to properly prepare for life after sport. But thanks to the many changes brought about by Olympic Agenda 2020, athletes will continue to be given more and more opportunities like the IOC Athlete Learning Gateway. This online tool gives athletes the means to successfully combine sport and education for brighter futures.”
The pilot programme for the IOC Athlete Learning Gateway was evaluated by the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission, Entourage Commission and a dedicated independent Academic Advisory Board. The IOC President agreed with their recommendation to establish the full service as part of Olympic Agenda 2020.
To view the pilot service, click here. A new link to The IOC Athlete Learning Gateway will be published on 28 May along with more information about the new service.
Following positive discussions between the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and the President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine, Sergey Bubka, all parties have agreed that Lviv will turn its attention to an Olympic bid for 2026, and not continue with its application for 2022.
The decision comes as a result of the present political and economic circumstances in Ukraine, which were discussed between the three parties.
“The preliminary evaluation by the IOC’s working group found that the Lviv bid offered huge potential for future development,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “In my discussions with the Ukrainian Prime Minster and NOC President, we concluded that it would be extremely difficult to pursue the 2022 bid under the current circumstances, but that a future bid would make sense for Ukraine and Ukrainian sport.”
The Ukrainian Prime Minister agreed that “a bid for 2026 would have excellent potential for the economic recovery of the country, and could have huge benefits for Ukrainian society”.
For the NOC, President Sergey Bubka added: “We would like to thank the IOC very much for its help and understanding, as well as the great assistance that it has given to Ukrainian athletes from all parts of the country, both morally and financially.”
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