International Association of Athletics headed by Lord Coe – BBC Russian

Sebastian Coe as the new president of the International Association of Athletics Federations has promised reforms

The new president of the International Association of Athletics Federations elected Briton Sebastian Coe.

Representatives of 214 national federations voted in Beijing for the new leader of the association, to which the first business will face the problem of serious allegations of doping by many athletes.

The only competitor Coe was a Ukrainian Sergey Bubka. He got 92 votes against 115 at the British. Now Coe will head the association, and Bubka will be its vice-president. His main task, Lord Coe called the fight against doping.

At the same time, some delegates were dissatisfied with the process took place in Beijing, the election by questioning the reliability of the electronic voting system and noted its complexity.

The previous head of the Association was the Senegalese Lamine Diack. He led her past 16 years. Coe hitherto served as vice president of the association.

Sebastian Coe has twice won Olympic gold in the women’s 1,500 meters. After finishing his sports career he was a member of the British Parliament, and in 2005 headed the organizing committee of the 2012 Olympics in London.

Sergei Bubka – the Olympic champion in the pole vault. He heads the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine and ran for president of the International Olympic Committee, but lost.

Sergei Bubka becomes the vice-president of the association

The election took place three days before the start of the World Cup 2015 in athletics.

According to Coe, election victory in Beijing was his “second in importance and the importance of the event in his life” after the birth of children.

“delighted and proud of the confidence shown to me by the association. Thank you. Now the hard work begins” – he wrote in his “Twitter” after the announcement of election results.

Sergey Bubka said after the defeat: “I know that in the future lifting will develop and grow stronger year by year”.

In their election programs, both candidates have promised to reform the sport and make it more attractive to a wider audience and to attract more young people.

However, erupted in early August, a scandal about the scope of application of athletes banned drugs overshadowed the atmosphere before the vote.