Coe Reacts to WADA Commission Findings

(ATR) Salvaging the reputation of Athletics will be president Sebastian Coe’s greatest professional challenge in the wake of Monday’s shocking revelations from Dick Pound and the WADA Independent Commission.

Coe said he is "alarmed" and will need to take urgent steps to combat the damning findings reveled by WADA, which recommended a suspension for Russian Athletics (ARAF) and lifetime bans for five athletes.

"I have urged the Council to start the process of considering sanctions against ARAF," Coe said in an IAAF statement regarding the allegations of Russia’s widespread doping and related cover-ups. "

"This step has not been taken lightly. Our athletes, partners and fans have my total assurance that where there are failures in our governance or our anti-doping programs we will fix them," said Coe, who assumed the head of the federation in August.

On whether the commission’s findings constitute state sponsored doping in Russia, Pound replied: "I don’t think there is any other conclusion…all of this couldn’t have happened without knowledge of State authorities."

The report advised that more than 1,400 doping samples were destroyed by a Moscow anti-doping lab.

Russian sport minister Vitaly Mutko shot back at the alleged allegations saying the WADA independent council has "no right to suspend anyone."

Pound didn’t mince words criticizing the athletics federation in allowing the Russian scandal which he likened to the "Old Cold War days."

"The IAAF has done some good things early on, but has not followed up in the way we might have hoped, and athletes and the public might have hoped," Pound said, during the more than one-hour long news conference from Geneva, Switzerland on Monday afternoon.

"The answer is to identify that, call a ‘spade a spade’ and fix that up or your sport is in real trouble," said the longtime Canadian IOC member and founding president of WADA.

Next steps for the track and field governing body include for the Council, which meets next week in Colorado Springs to decide whether to proceed with a potential sanction against Russia upon receiving a response to the allegations.

Last week, Coe made a two-day visit to Moscow meeting with Russian track and field coaches and officials, including Mutko and Russian NOC president Alexander Zhukov.

"I expressed my uncompromising position on the issue of doping in athletics and the importance for the sport to build trust and defend clean athletes at all times," Coe said following the visit.

"I was able to meet and interact directly with Russian athletes, coaches and officials, and I appreciated their openness, passion for our sport and noted a real appetite for change.

The 59-year-old British sports leader has vowed to save his sport as it faces arguably its most daunting battle.

"We will do whatever it takes to protect the clean athletes and rebuild trust in our sport," Coe said. "The IAAF will continue to offer the police authorities our full co-operation into their ongoing investigation."

The Russian doping scandal was triggered last December, the result of German TV documentaries broadcasting allegations of cover-ups and systematic doping in Russian sport, while asserting that nearly all athletes used banned substances.

Despite his critical remarks about the IAAF, Pound said he does believe that Coe is the right person to tackle the enormity of the situation.

"I think he is and I think you have to draw a line between pre-election and post election conduct and things," Pound said about Coe. "My guess is he was taken unaware as we were also, by some of these nasty surprises to us.

"I think Seb Coe is somebody who can grasp this and be transformation enough to bring about some change in Athletics," he said.

"I hope so, because his sport is at risk if he doesn’t."

Written by Brian Pinelli

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