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 Briton Coe, who was elected president of the International
Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in August on a manifesto
promising reform, spoke of his "shock, anger and sadness" when
French authorities this week placed his long-serving predecessor
Lamine Diack under formal investigation on suspicion of corruption
and money laundering.
"My job is very simple now and there is no ambiguity about it. It is
to rebuild trust in our sport," Coe told Reuters in a telephone
interview on Sunday.
"We should not kid ourselves. It is going to be a long road. The day
after I got elected as president we started the process of
reforming. In the light of the allegations on Monday I have advanced
that process and will be taking a package of reforms to the council
in two weeks and I expect to get those through.
"But it will be a long road to redemption."
Senegalese Diack, 82 is alleged to have received more than one
million euros ($1.1 million) in bribes in 2011 to cover up positive
doping tests of Russian athletes.
VARIOUS BREACHES
His son Papa Massata Diack and three others have also been charged
with various alleged breaches of the IAAF's Code of Ethics.
Diack's family has dismissed what they described as excessive and
insignificant accusations.
Despite being an IAAF vice-president for half of Diack's 16-year
reign, Coe said on Sunday that he had no inkling of any wrongdoing
until the allegations surfaced this week.
"If these allegations are proven, then clearly bad people have
manipulated the system and we will need a system of checks and
balances to make sure bad people don't get into those positions in
future," Coe told BBC Radio 5-Live on Sunday, the first time he had
spoken publicly since news of the charges by French authorities
emerged.
With Russia and fellow athletics superpower Kenya both under fire
for their high number of positive tests and a wretched anti-doping
culture, Coe said he did not support calls for them, or any other
country, to be banned from competition.
"My instinct on this issue, while we never say never, is about
engagement, not isolation, Coe told Reuters.
"That is how you enact change."
Coe, 59, had a glorious career on the track and then a varied one
off it. He has been a British Member of Parliament, a hugely
successful businessman and headed the bid for and delivery of the
2012 Olympic Games in London, after which he was appointed as a
member of the House of Lords.
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ECHOES OF CYCLING
However, he was widely criticized for describing the Sunday Times'
August allegations that the IAAF had ignored widespread blood-doping
as a "declaration of war on our sport" -- a response that echoed the
approach of cycling's governing body as it closed ranks to fight off
media scrutiny of doping problems.
His comments on Sunday came as one of the three co-authors of a
report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) into wrongdoing within
athletics -- to be published on Monday -- said the sport is dealing
with a "different level of corruption" to that which has plagued
soccer's governing body FIFA.
Richard McLaren, a Canadian law professor and sports lawyer, told
the Sunday Times: "Here you potentially have a bunch of old men who
put a whole lot of extra money in their pockets -- through extortion
and bribes -- but also caused significant changes to actual results
and final standings of international athletics competitions.
"This is a whole different scale of corruption than the FIFA
scandal. This report is going to be a real game-changer."
Soccer's world governing body FIFA has been in turmoil since 14
officials and sports marketing executives, including two FIFA
vice-presidents, were indicted by the United States in May.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter and his European counterpart Michel
Platini have since been suspended while Swiss authorities
investigate the Zurich-based federation's activities. Both have
denied wrongdoing.
(Additional reporting by Martyn Herman, Mitch Phillips.; Editing by
David Goodman)
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