Anything but a surprise. Sergei Bubka, the former pole vault star, announced this Wednesday, January 28, his decision to run for president of the IAAF. The news was expected. She won't surprise anyone. Especially not his rival for the succession of Lamine Diack at the head of world athletics, the Englishman Sebastian Coe.
At 51 years old, Sergei Bubka is therefore launching, as planned, into the battle for the supreme position of the first Olympic sport. The Ukrainian explained, quite soberly, through a press release that he had made the decision to apply for the presidency of the IAAF after "a meeting of the executive committee of the Ukrainian Athletics Federation" and after the encouragement and advice from his many “friends and colleagues within the athletics family. »
The former athlete added that he had always dedicated his life to athletics, from his first races in the streets of his native Ukraine, to the numerous titles and records obtained all over the world. An entire existence serving his sport, on the track and behind the scenes, as an athlete then as a manager. A pedigree that does not distinguish him from his opponent for the IAAF, Sebastian Coe.
Having entered “politics” since the end of his athletic career, Sergei Bubka now has many hats. He is president of the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee, vice-president of the IAAF (like Sebastian Coe), member of the IOC, a latter institution where he sits on the executive board. In 2013, he had already tried his luck in an election, by running for president of the IOC. A surprise application. And a rather stinging failure, Bubka obtaining only 8 votes.
At this stage of the process, Sergei Bubka was quite vague about his program. It promises, if successful, to guarantee the development of athletics at all levels and for all audiences. He assures that he wants to make the IAAF a model of ethics, transparency, integrity and good governance. It also promises to increase audiences and commercial revenues. Classic and conventional.
Between Sebastian Coe and Sergei Bubka, the battle promises to be fierce. And, let's be clear, still very undecided. The two men have taken the time in recent years to build up a solid network. They know the mysteries of the IAAF by heart. And can present a very comparable journey. A duel between the British and the Ukrainian without equal in the rich history of the International Athletics Federation.
The election for the presidency of the IAAF will take place in August 2015, during the Congress organized on the sidelines of the world championships in Beijing.
