Off the wire
• Bencic upsets Kerber in Cincinnati  • Department chief of China's environmental protection ministry under probe  • Chinese solution for Indonesian railway "more competitive": spokesperson  • Yuan weakening a correction to market rate: MOC  • (Sports Focus) Sebastian Coe elected as new IAAF president (updated 2)  • Iraqi forces foil multiple IS suicide car bombs in Baiji  • 1st LD: Suicide bombing kills 10 Kurdish fighters in northern Syria  • "Go Away Mr. Tumor" leads China's box office sales  • Myanmar seeks talented tennis players  • US grouped with Cuba for Olympic qualifying  
You are here: 　 Home

(Sports Focus) Sebastian Coe - Born to win

Xinhua, August 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Sebastian Coe, the king of middle-distance run in the 1980s and the hero in London's bid for the 2012 Olympics, gained another title - the IAAF president, after beating Ukrainian pole vault great Sergey Bubka here on Wednesday.

"In the best traditions of everything we both believe in our sports, it was fought according to sound judgment throughout," he said after the election.

Reviewing Coe's sports career, either as an athlete or a sports administrator, he was born with winning gene.

As a middle-distance runner, Coe, born in 1956, claimed four Olympic medals, including the 1,500-meter gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984.

Coe set world records 11 times. In 1979, Coe broke the records of 800-meter, the mile and 1,500-meter in just 41 days and became the first person to hold three records simultaneously.

Following his retirement in 1990, Coe chose to be a member of parliament for the Conservative Party but he caught the public's attention in 2004 as he became of the chairman of the London's bid company after the leaving of Barbara Cassani which was proven to be a turning point in London's bid.

Under the guidance of Coe, London built an image as a front-runner, boosted the domestic support and won tough battles against Paris and Madrid.

In 2007, Coe was elected as the vice chairman of IAAF alongside Bubka and got another four-year term in 2011.

"The vision and proposals that I am unveiling today are designed to increase the reach and appeal of athletics in a world that is rapidly changing," he said.

Coe was elected as new IAAF president at the 50th IAAF Congress, replacing Lamine Diack.

"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. Endi