(Sports Focus) Sebastian Coe elected as new IAAF president (updated 2)

Britain's Sebastian Coe was elected as new IAAF president at the 50th IAAF Congress here on Wednesday.

Coe, a former Conservative Party lawmaker and a member of the House of Lords, a two-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion and chief organizer of the 2012 London Olympics, beat Ukrainian pole vault great Sergei Bubka and won the vote 115-92 in the IAAF election held on the eve of the world championships in Beijing.

"For most of us in this room, we would conclude that the birth of our children is a big moment in our lives, probably the biggest, but I have to say that being given the opportunity to work with all of you and shape the future of our sport is probably the second biggest and (most) momentous occasion of my life," Coe said after winning the election.

Former president Lamine Diack, 82, believes that the sport will grow better with Coe, who won two Olympic 1,500m gold medals for Britain in 1980 and 1984 and also set eight outdoor and three indoor world records in middle-distance track events.

"Our sport is in safe hands," Diack said. "The white-haired generation has done what it can, now it's over to the black-haired generation."

Bubka, an Olympic and six-time world championship gold medalist, was also among the first to congratulate the Briton.

"I know that athletics in the future will grow, and become stronger and stronger," said Bubka, who was later elected as an IAAF vice president.

Diack, who's been at the helm for 16 years, left with the track and field's international governing body under intense criticism following media allegations that it failed to act on evidence of widespread blood doping.

"I'm very flattered, very, very honored to have been elected president. I haven't had much of a chance to let it sink in," commented Coe at a press conference later on Wednesday.

"It has been a long road. I joined an athletics club when I was 11, I had the joys of Olympic competition and the joys of being able to put on one of the greatest sporting events ever, but this is the pinnacle. It's my sport, it's my passion.

"Lamine has left us with an extraordinarily strong foundation and one aspect of that foundation is that we are a truly global sport. I will do my best to continue from those firm foundations," Coe added.

Coe, whose initial term will be for four years, will need to go straight to work to convince the public that the IAAF can properly tackle the scourge of doping.

German broadcaster ARD and Britain's The Sunday Times newspaper reported earlier this month that one-third of medals in endurance races at the Olympics and world championships were won by athletes who have recorded suspicious blood readings.

"You have a president that will devote himself full-time to the IAAF. It has been a long and hard campaign but it has given us the chance to pause for breath, the chance to review and renew itself," said Coe. Endi