Coe Versus Bubka - The Heavyweight Clash for the IAAF Presidency

Published by Inside the Games on December 2, 2014

As a former parliamentarian Lord Coe - then plain Seb - knows what it was like to fight an election. So he will be well suited for a bout of tasty political scrapping having formally declared his candidacy for the Presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Doubtless his familiarity with the hustings will stand him in good stead in the upcoming set-to with one-time chum Sergey Bubka when the 213-strong IAAF electorate go to the polls in August of next year to determine a successor to long-serving former Senegalese judge Lamine Diack.

And the fact that London 2012's award-winning spinmeister Mike Lee has been brought in as Coe's PR "campaign manager" suggests that his Lordship is aware that the contest may not be quite the shoo-in many anticipate.

Ukraine's pole vault icon promises to fight Coe tooth and nail for one of the most prestigious posts in global sport. The word is that he has started to garner support, notably from allies in Eastern Europe, and will be suggesting that Coe's many other commitments undermine his ability to do fulfil the role effectively.

Coe certainly seems be treating his campaign as seriously as he did when elected (albeit for just one term) as Conservative MP for Falmouth and Camborne in 1992.