PARIS (AP) — Olympic running champion and insider Sebastian Coe said “of course I’m going to consider this” Sunday when asked if he would think of putting his name forward to replace Thomas Bach as president of the International Olympic Committee.
The World Athletics president and two-time Olympic gold medalist at 1,500 meters has long been viewed as a possible replacement for Bach, who surprisingly announced the day before that he would be stepping down in 2025.
“I’ve always made it clear that if an opportunity arose, I’d obviously give it serious thought,” Coe said in a news conference originally called to discuss the Olympic track meet. “The opportunity has arisen and clearly I need to think about it.”
Coe also led the organizing committee for the 2012 London Games. Though his long history in sports, both on and off the field, would seem to make him a natural fit, most Olympic insiders consider him a long shot.
There’s the issue of his age that could work against the 67-year-old Coe. The IOC has an age limit of 70 for newer members, such as him, though it’s possible exceptions could be made.
“The charter is pretty clear about timing here,” Coe said. “This is only, at best, a consideration.”
Positions Coe has taken on topics ranging from doping, the Russian war against Ukraine and paying athletes have run counter to many high-level opinions on an IOC that Bach has shaped to his own worldview since he took over in 2013.
For instance, World Athletics has taken a much tougher stance than other sports against Russian participation at the Olympics since its state-sponsored doping scandal erupted 10 years ago. Coe also pressed for the creation of the Athletics Integrity Unit, an independent offshoot from World Athletics that handles the organization’s doping cases.
Once the war in Ukraine began, Coe called it a matter of pure fairness in making no exceptions for Russian track athletes to compete at major track events, including Paris. That was a far cry from the drawn-out process the IOC drew up that ultimately allowed 15 Russians into the Games as neutrals.
The election for president next March figures to be a largely opaque process, with a good chance Bach will have a heavy hand in pointing committee members toward his successor.
Some potential candidates include vice presidents Nicole Hoevertsz of Aruba and Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. of Spain, whose father was IOC president for 21 years. Others candidates could be board members Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe and Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan.
The IOC has never had a woman president in its 130-year history.
Coe, who also won elections to the British parliament in the 1990s, would almost certainly be viewed as a change candidate, someone who might disrupt the status quo. But he, too, carries baggage.
He has been scrutinized for his close ties with Nike and for being on the executive board of track’s ruling organization when corruption ultimately landed former president Lamine Diack under house arrest with a prison sentence. (Coe also receives credit from his supporters of cleaning up the mess Diack left.)
There was criticism about both how world championships were awarded and how they came off in both Doha, Qatar (2019) and Eugene, Oregon (2022).
Coe’s introduction of prize money to the Olympics might best illustrate the hurdles he would have to clear to receive acceptance from the 115-member IOC.
Within 24 hours of that announcement, he was receiving praise from athletes for a move many felt was long overdue. But some sports leaders complained money like that should be used for developing sports, among other things.
Asked about that at the start of the Olympics, Coe said: “It’s a really simple concept from where I sit. If you get it right for the athletes in any sporting organization, you’re going to get 80 percent of it right.”
