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 In April this year the hosting rights were surprisingly awarded
without a bidding process, much to the surprise of the Swedish city
of Gothenburg, which was in the process of preparing to present its
own case.
The then-president of the International Association of Athletics
Federations (IAAF) Lamine Diack supported the idea of giving Eugene
hosting rights. But in the light of the 82-year-old being
investigated by French authorities over a doping corruption scandal,
many observers have questioned the validity and transparency of the
decision.
On Tuesday the BBC published internal emails it said it had obtained
from Nike, the sportswear company closely linked to Eugene and which
pays Coe a retainer, which it claims suggest Coe also gave support
to the U.S. city's bid.
The emails have raised questions about whether there was a conflict
of interests in Coe, who succeeded Diack as IAAF chief in August,
supporting Eugene's bid given his links to Nike.
One email from January this year from Nike marketing executive Craig
Masback to Vin Lananna and Robert Fasulo, both from "Track Town USA"
- the organization behind Eugene’s bid, reads:
"He(Coe) made clear his support for 2021 in Eugene but made equally
clear he had reached out to Diack specifically on this topic and got
a clear statement from Diack that 'I am not going to take any action
at the April meeting to choose a 2021 site'."
The IAAF also published the email on its website on Tuesday, along
with answers Coe gave to questions on the issue.
"I did not lobby anyone on behalf of the Eugene 2021 bid," Coe said.
"After their narrow defeat (to Doha) for the 2019 world
championships I encouraged them to re-enter another bidding cycle as
they had a strong bid."
"All my interests were, and continue to be, fully declared to the
IAAF Ethics Committee and listed at the House of Lords."
Coe said he always thought there would be a bidding process until
Diack told the Council "there were political and financial
considerations in terms of the way the funding package came together
for Eugene that may not be present again and we should award 2021 to
Eugene."
The Council voted, in secret, 23-1, with one abstention to give the
event directly to Eugene.
Despite Coe's explanation, Bjorn Eriksson, leader of the Gothenburg
bid at the time and former head of Interpol, told the BBC: "The idea
we don't even get the chance to deliver an offer, we don't get the
chance to be judged. That makes me still furious.
"It smells and it has to be investigated."
However, an IAAF spokesman told Reuters: "There is nothing to
revisit. This was a democratic decision of the IAAF Council."
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A further IAAF statement on the issue released earlier this week
said: "Sebastian Coe sought the advice of the IAAF Ethics Commission
when he was appointed to the role as Chairman of the Evaluation
Commission for the 2019 World Championships, and openly declared his
interests, as he has consistently done. On that basis his
long-standing role with Nike has never been seen, nor is it seen, as
a matter of ethical concern."
Despite the IAAF and Coe's fighting rearguard, the questions are
unlikely to go away and such a backdrop is the last thing the IAAF
needs as it attempts to deal with arguably the worst doping crisis
in the sport's history.
Its Council, which meets again in Monaco on Thursday, has banned
Russia from all athletics following the publication of the World
Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) independent commission report that
uncovered systematic and widespread state-supported doping and
cover-ups in the country.
The commission said it had more findings, critical of the IAAF,
which it would reveal later in the year following the conclusion on
an Interpol investigation into corruption within the organization.
Coe, a double Olympic 1500 meters champion, will appear before a
British Parliamentary committee next week when he will be grilled
again about his role.
The BBC said on Tuesday that Coe had been given 67,000 pounds of
public money toward his presidential election campaign, a figure he
has publicly acknowledged.
British Member of Parliament Damian Collins, a member of that
committee and a long-standing campaigner against corruption within
soccer’s governing body FIFA, said on Tuesday: "Seb Coe should end
his job with Nike if he is to continue as president of the IAAF.
"The perception of conflicts of interests is too great."
(Editing by Andrew Hay)
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