Seb Coe ‘ready’ to be IAAF President

London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) chief Sebastian Coe will return to his athletics roots after the Games and seek the presidency of the ruling athletics body IAAF, The Times reported on Wednesday.

“I’d be happy to run my sport and that is the first time I’ve given that answer,” Coe told The Times.

“I’m ready. I know how to do this. But we have a great president in the post, so it would be when he stands down.”

Coe, a two-times Olympic 1,500 metres champion and long-time 800m world record holder, has long been mentioned as a top candidate to succeed Lamine Diack, who has presided over the IAAF since 1999 and whose current term runs until 2015.

But there are suggestions that the 79-year-old Senegalese may step down after the IAAF’s centenary celebrations set for next year as he has also been linked with the presidency of his home country of Senegal.

Coe, 55, could have another prominent ex-athlete in Ukrainian pole vault world record holder Sergey Bubka running against him for the IAAF top job.