The 58-year-old, a double Olympic 1,500 metres champion, is running against pole vault legend Sergey Bubka for the top job at the IAAF.
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As an Olympic medallist and former chairman of London 2012 and vice president of the IAAF, Sebastian Coe brings a wealth of experience to the organisation’s leadership.
But there is no doubt that his passion to save his sport is genuine, bordering on the evangelical.
“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”, Coe told the congress.
He said the IAAF spent millions of dollars annually “to ensure that athletes are properly protected and remain clean” and had been a trailblazer in anti-doping activities in sport.
Following his defeat, Bubka said: “I know that athletics in the future will grow, and become stronger and stronger”.
After a series of doping controversies rocked the build-up to the August 22-30 world championships in Beijing, the Briton said he and his new team would be “vigilant” in their crusade against cheats.
Brian Cookson is Coe’s partner at the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and Sir Craig Reedie drives WADA.
Coe has said that the IAAF can not “promote and police” the sport at the same time and has pledged to set up an independent anti-doping agency to deal with drugs violations, which he hopes will reduce “conflicts and loopholes”.
While both candidates called for an overhaul of the way the anti-doping programme is run, Coe was more forceful against critics by describing the accusations as a “declaration of war”.
There were 211 eligible member federations voting in the election, with Afghanistan and Iran absent and Gabon under suspension.
Qatari Dahlan al-Hamad, Cameroon’s Hamad Kalkaba Malboum and Cuba’s Alberto Juantorena also secured positions as vice-presidents alongside Bubka.
– Jose Maria Odriozola of Spain was elected as treasurer.
He targeted the smaller nations with his plan for an Olympic Athletics Dividend, providing at least Dollars 100,000 of extra funding over four years to all IAAF member federations.
“I will do everything within my human capabilities to make sure our sport maintains the values, maintains the strong legacies and the very, very firm foundations that President Diack has left me”, he added. “I’m asking to share power, and to spread power”, he said.
Mr Diack welcomed Mr Coe’s appointment, saying he was delighted to finally have a successor and in particular one who had dedicated his life to the sport. “The sport of athletics could not be in better hands as we enter a crucial period leading up to an Olympic Games”.
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“I will always be in your corner – your fight is my fight”.
