He was reportedly paid about £100,000-a-year by Nike.
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The head of world athletics Sebastian Coe is facing fresh allegations about his involvement in the controversial award of the 2021 World Championships to the American city of Eugene, but insisted he had acted fairly throughout.
He denied a conflict of interest, has said frequently he has been open about it, and also said Thursday that the IAAF ethics committee has also not objected.
The decision to award Eugene the event was unexpectedly announced by the IAAF in April, before a formal bidding process got underway and after lobbying from Track Town USA, the organisation backing Eugene, which is closely associated with Nike.
“Our focus is entirely on steadying the ship, it’s taking 18 hours a day, and this had become a distraction”.
When elected, Coe lavished praised on Diack, who was IAAF president from 1999, and hit out at those who suggested athletics had a problem with doping.
Coe has multiple crises to deal with.
The British double Olympic 1500 metres champion also said he was stepping down as chair of the British Olympic Association (BOA) after next year’s Rio Games.
As new president Sebastian Coe rightly perceived, this was not a time to be seen celebrating.
“I have stepped down from my ambassadorial role with Nike”.
“I’ve stepped down from my ambassadorial role with Nike, which dates back 38 years”.
Coe is still chairman of sports’ marketing agency CSM that works in 19 countries.
The IAAF president has been under intense scurtiny over his association with the company due to a conflict of interest. “This was a democratic decision of the IAAF Council”. “That’s for the sport, for everybody involved”, Bjorn Eriksson, leader of the Gothenburg bid, told the BBC.
Coe also revealed the Council members had given “full approval” to the development of an integrity unit to aid the fight against doping, which had been one of his key manifesto pledges. Russia’s federation (Araf), suspended after violating numerous anti-doping regulations, will cooperate “fully and actively” with the IAAF inspection team.
These include “establishing an effective and operational anti-doping framework in Russia” and bans being given to athletes, coaches or officials who have committed anti-doping rule violations.
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It was confirmed today that Russian Federation has accepted it’s ban from worldwide competition in the wake of revelations about a state-sponsored doping programme.
