Coe vs Bubka: On your Marks… The Race is on for the IAAF Presidency – By Michael Pirrie

As dual Olympic gold medallist Sebastian Coe was approaching the entrance to the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony of the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympic Games, he was met by the late long-serving President of the Olympic Movement Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Samaranch beckoned Coe to follow him through the gates and into an elevator that descended to the next level down, where Samaranch escorted Coe, whom he regarded with great affection, into a room where they were soon face to face with boxing legend and the perhaps greatest and most respected sporting hero of our times, Muhammad Ali.

The clandestine meeting had been arranged so Samaranch could present Ali with his missing Olympic gold medal, just a few hours before Ali would famously make one of his increasingly rare public appearances and ignite the Olympic cauldron and flame to officially start of the Atlanta Games.

Ali is a hero of Coe’s and the opportunity to attend the private Olympic gold presentation to Ali had a strong impression on Coe, who is also a boxing fan, as well as an Ali fan, and nearly 20 years later, may help to inspire Coe who is in the final rounds of his own epic battle.

Indeed, the atmosphere, anticipation and buzz surrounding the countdown to Wednesday’s IAAF Presidential vote in Beijing may have more in common with the build up to a world heavyweight boxing title than a contest reflecting the sport of athletics.

That’s because the election features two of the highest profile names in the modern era of athletics – and of world and Olympic sport – Coe, the British middle distance running great, and Ukraine pole vault legend, Sergey Bubka.

The athletics greats will again be relying on the same personal attributes that served them so well on the tracks and fields of former east and western Europe, Soviet Union and United States in their late teenage and early adulthood years, where they stretched the boundaries of sporting accomplishment and achievement to new levels, setting world record after world record.

This unprecedented election scenario involving two athletic superstars going head-to-head for the top office job is also being closely followed worldwide, and many sports leaders and officials have already booked their ring side seats to be in Beijing for the midweek showdown and associated formalities and final speeches and presentations by the sporting legends.

The IAAF election is the most high profile in world sport since the IOC presidential elections in Buenos Aires in 2013, contested by Bubka and other IOC members including Thomas Bach, who won easily and handsomely.

Like his hero Ali, Coe has charisma and eloquence – and a deep passion for sport, including football, but especially for his sport of athletics, as does Bubka.

If the boxing analogy is apt, however, then neither of the two IAAF presidential hopefuls has yet landed a decisive knock-out punch.

Election insiders are also keeping their scorecards close to their chest, although a number of national federations and governing bodies have already declared their support for the two would-be presidents, currently giving Coe a significant advantage, with further declarations expected ahead of the final vote.

Athletics is a bellwether barometer sport for the sector worldwide, and the Coe-Bubka contest is generating global interest in the wider world of sport, with sports leaders and experts closely dissecting the rival election manifestos, looking for insights into the policies that each candidate would pursue to grow athletics if elected, and the possible impact on the sports industry.

They are especially interested to see if Coe or Bubka might have the right strategies to help address some of the chronic problems threatening world sport, including doping anduse of performance enhancing drugs and how to halt the decline of young people in sport worldwide.

The IAAF presidency would cap the stellar careers of the candidates, and has been occupying more space in the minds and lives of each candidate for some time now. Each candidate has already given many years of loyal service to their federation and there seemed  an inevitability and even sense of destiny about this contest.

Both have been traversing the world’s geo-political sporting capitals and centres of power for many months, seeking pledges and promises of support from IAAF members and influencers, and outlining their election manifestos for growing the sport of athletics, which, according to Coe, includes all the disciplines and skills necessary to succeed in almost all other sporting codes.