From Inside the Games
Sebastian Coe has been unanimously re-elected for a second term as President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), with 203 votes.
The 62-year-old Briton was standing unopposed for a second term having been elected four years ago to replace Lamine Diack.
His re-election two days before the start of this year’s IAAF World Championships in Qatar’s capital on Friday (September 27) came after the Congress voted 164 to 30 to back the decision to extend a suspension on Russia competing under its own flag following evidence of state-supported doping.
Like Coe’s unopposed selection, the Russian decision was not a surprise, with the IAAF having announced on Monday (September 23) that Russia will miss the World Championships for the second time in succession due to a doping scandal.
Russia were originally banned in November 2015, shortly after Coe’s election in Beijing, and this has since been extended 11 times.
“This was not an easy journey,” Coe said following his re-election.
“It has been a tough four years.
“There’s no point in being naive or coy about that.
“We have to grow the sport – we have to reach out beyond the beltway of athletics fans.”
Election of first IAAF female vice-president overshadowed by corruption allegations
Ximena Restrepo was chosen as the first female vice-president of the IAAF here today but the election was overshadowed by the late decision to prevent the United Arab Emirates’ Ahmed Al Kamali from standing.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced he had been suspended for a “potential violation of the IAAF Candidacy Rules and Integrity Code of Conduct”.
The decision to ban Al Kamali, President of the UAE Athletics Federation and an attorney at law, from standing for vice-president and the IAAF Council was taken so late that he had already arrived here for the vote and officials had to remove his accreditation from him.
It is believed that the AIU had been investigating allegations of corruption against Al Kamali for several weeks and interviewed him in the Qatari capital last night.
Coe, himself re-elected for a second term as IAAF President today, claimed that he did not find out about the decision until a few minutes before the Congress was due to begin and did not know what the specific allegations were.
But, in 2015, when he was elected as a member of the IAAF Council in Beijing, Al Kamali was forced to deny allegations he had offered delegates Rolex watches in an attempt to win votes at the Confederation of African Athletics Congress.
He denied the claims.
