The head of world athletics governing body, who earned $151,000 (about 142,000 euros) annually from his professional relationship with the USA sportswear firm, made Thursday’s decision on the heels of a series of scandals surrounding the IAAF, Xinhua reported.
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“If I understand Sebastian Coe correctly, he said, “I agree that the procedure wasn’t correct”, but he claims he wasn’t involved in this, others are”, Eriksson said.
Coe, who ended his ambassadorial role with Nike on Thursday, told a press conference: “I was asked specifically about my view of what was happening in that landscape [to host the 2021 championships]”.
The decision came days after an email emerged showing he had discussed the award of the 2021 World Championships to Eugene with a senior executive at Nike.
The situation was “not good for IAAF and not good for Nike”, according to Coe.
It has been nothing but a blunt and challenging introduction to the vagaries of top-level sport administration for Coe, working 18 hours a day in a firefight for track and field. Eugene, which lost out to Doha in bidding for the 2019 event, is closely associated with Nike.
Upon being elected IAAF president in August, having beaten Ukrainian pole-vault great Sergey Bubka 115-92 in a tight vote, Coe pledged to maintain “the very highest level of vigilance” with regard to doping.
He will also stand down as chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA) following the 2016 Games in Rio.
Bid organizers told The Sunday Times they were not given a fair and transparent process as promised by former IAAF President Lamine Diack and Coe.
The Council approved Coe’s new integrity unit which he said will look at anti-doping, the manipulation of sports competitions, age manipulations, allegiance switches and the behavior and conduct of third parties and representatives.
Coe has denied any wrongdoing and any conflict of interest in his Nike deal.
“I have stepped down from my ambassadorial role with Nike”. The affair also reaches out to the IAAF as Diack is under criminal investigation in France over suspected corruption in connection with covered up positive tests, and council member Stephanie Hightower said “our entire system has failed athletes”.
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Last week, the IAAF set up preliminary criteria for the reinstatement of the Russian track team, and said an appointed inspection team would begin its work to determine the efficacy of reforms in Russia no later than January 1.
