British Lord Sebastian Coe, president of the IAAF, expressed his great appreciation for Qatar and its major development in athletics, and its commitment to developing and spreading the sport across the Middle East region generally, through hosting the 2010 World Indoor Championships and its forthcoming organisation of the 2019 World Athletics Championships, in which 2,000 male and female athletes from around the world, holders of records and medals, will take part, watched by more than six billion people worldwide through broadcast, alongside hosting Diamond League meetings as one of only two Diamond League stops on the continent, alongside the Shanghai meeting.
Speaking at his first press conference following the athletics crisis, at the Torch Hotel in Doha, in the presence of HE Major General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, president of the Asian and Qatar athletics federations and vice-president of the IAAF, he said Qatar is fully committed to spreading and developing the sport, noting that Doha has continued to produce world and Olympic champions across various global and Olympic challenges, pointing to the high jump star and event record holder, Qatari champion Mutaz Barshim. The British lord, elected last August as IAAF president succeeding Senegal’s Lamine Diack, added that he was pleased to see the development in Qatar across various technical and organisational levels in athletics, given Doha’s hosting of the Diamond League meeting, which represents the first challenge of the athletics season since 2000, in addition to the IAAF’s accreditation of Aspire Academy as a training centre in line with global scientific standards for training athletes.
Lord Coe thanked Qatar, represented by HE Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, president of the Qatar and Asian athletics federations and vice-president of the IAAF, for giving him the opportunity to speak to media from around the world and address the athletics family from Doha, and said he appreciated the great support he receives from Major General Dahlan Al Hamad in development programmes for athletics and spreading the sport across Asia with an eye to the future, as well as spreading it across the Middle East region, adding that the IAAF is going through a difficult and trying period and that everyone in the world needs to cooperate for the sake of athletics to build trust on the track and field amid widespread talk of doping issues in athletics, for the sake of future generations, noting that Qatar has continued to encourage the sport and spread it to future generations through championships, training centres, planning, facilities and many other things that provide technical support for developing athletics, which is the most important thing.
The Diamond League and the challenge
Sebastian Coe revealed that when he was elected chairman of the Diamond League board, he took into account the need for the sport to stand out in its distinctive, authentic form by planning outstanding meetings for competition among athletes, especially as the Doha meeting, set to launch on 6 May, is considered the most important Diamond League stop, given that it comes in a year that will see the summer Olympic Games, and so he sees it as essential to focus on the Doha meeting, which represents the starting point. He added that he had witnessed the Diamond League’s success across its various meetings and had seen the great technical and organisational success of the last meeting, which saw a new long jump record and many marks that set the stage for a challenge for the champions at the World Championships the same year, expecting this year’s meeting to also be an opportunity for champions in an Olympic year. Coe also revealed that, in coordination with Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, president of the Asian Athletics Association, he sees great opportunity for the Asian continent to make use of its huge human resources in developing athletics and forming new, young generations who can move the sport forward, noting that Asia is a giant continent
IAAF president Sebastian Coe confirmed that, for the sake of a sport clean of doping, he has put in place a strategy based on a huge budget to combat the scourge of doping, as well as a strategy covering training for future generations, and deterrent penalties for those who use banned substances, and so he believes work must continue at full strength towards this goal
The IAAF president revealed that investigations into doping cases are ongoing, and that he regularly receives reports from Rune Andersen regarding any violations by any of the federations, and that from Doha he is directing any federation or individual in the athletics family to cooperate with the ethics committee or the various security investigations, saying on this matter: “We must not be ashamed of any violations or doping cases, and we must work for the good of athletics worldwide”
Lord Coe denied that Qatar had any connection to the violations, saying that if there were violations, the investigations would uncover them with full precision, noting that he knows Qatar’s role well in developing and advancing the sport, and denying that he had heard any media reports or otherwise of violations by the State of Qatar.
