Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 9 April (BelTA) – The world athletics is going through a process of changes and it needs to regain trust of the world sport community, President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Sebastian Coe said at a conference in Minsk on 9 April, BelTA has learned.

According to the IAAF head, the organization itself is unable to reach success. There should be united efforts with the participation of national federations from around the world. Sebastian Coe noted that one of the key roles is in the hands of the representatives of the European countries that are working these days at the conference in the Belarusian capital. He stressed that sport functionaries must not rest on their laurels. They need to search for new ideas to be implemented by young people. Sebastian Coe noted that the IAAF leadership attaches special attention to the fight against doping, but not focus on this issue only. There are a lot of unaddressed matters as well. In particular, there is a need to work on advancing athletics as a brand of a healthy lifestyle, the implementation of innovations in organizing competitions at various levels. These and other issues are considered by a special commission set up in the IAAF. It will present its development program in at the Olympic Games in Rio in August 2016. There will also be considered the issue of holding the IAAF special congress to review the first preliminary results of the renewal process. It is expected that the forum will be held in November.

Speaking about other aspects of the activity of international organizations, Sebastian Coe pointed to the issue of covering athletic competitions both by television and other broadcasting resources.

Sebastian Coe stressed that it is necessary to achieve a balance of political influence in sport. The IAAF President praised the activity of the Belarusian authorities led by Alexander Lukashenko who is well aware of the problems in the modern sport movement and athletics in particular. Sebastian Coe also said that he is glad that Belarus’ main stadium will be oriented at athletics and will be able to host any athletic competition once it opens.

The conference that took place in the National Olympic Committee was attended by over 100 heads of European athletics federations. The guests praised the organization of the forum. Such forums are held once in two years and the Belarusian capital hosted it for the first time.