The vote promised to be very close. Undecided until the end, the rumor predicted. However, its result left no room for doubt. Sebastian Coe became the sixth president in the history of the IAAF on Wednesday August 19 in Beijing. The Briton beat his Ukrainian rival, former pole vaulter Sergei Bubka, with a wider gap than expected: 115 votes for Coe, 92 for Bubka. Nothing to say.
“One of the strongest moments of my life,” confessed a visibly very moved Sebastian Coe as he took to the podium, just a few minutes after the result was announced. Before suggesting, addressing the assembly: “Dear friends, there is no task in my life for which I have been so well prepared. There is no feature I wanted more than this. »
Launched for many months in an interminable campaign, the two candidates were entitled to only 5 minutes, this Wednesday morning, to put the final point. The draw called Sergei Bubka to speak first. The Ukrainian seemed nervous, forcing his smiles, reciting without ease a speech learned by heart. He spoke of his passion for athletics, insisted on the need to reach young people, and hammered home the obligation of zero tolerance in the fight against doping. Serious but without brilliance. In his defense, the former pole vaulter spoke in English, not really his native language.
Sebastian Coe followed closely behind him. More at ease, the Briton was able to speak to the federations, that is to say to the voters, assuring in a calm voice that the development of athletics would be played out with them, at their side, not only from the offices Monegasques of the IAAF. Then he reminded those who may have forgotten how successful, profitable and legendary the London Games were in 2012. His London Games. His work.
Were these few minutes of presentation decisive? Judging by the score, definitely not. Sebastian Coe had won the bet before even going to the podium. His campaign had provided the essentials. His bid team, led by the influential Mike Lee, head of the Vero Communications agency, had tightened the final bolts. By promising to allocate half of the revenue paid by the IOC for the Olympic Games to the national federations, the Briton rubbed the voters the wrong way.
Barely elected, Sebastian Coe complied with the rules of the press conference with a certain know-how. He recalled his past in athletics, since his beginnings as a runner at the age of 11 in a neighborhood club, thanked his campaign team, with whom he accumulated "700 kilometers by plane since last Christmas", paid tribute to Lamine Diack, his “spiritual president”, and assured that he would fight for “zero tolerance” on the issue of doping.
Sebastian Coe has promised to be a full-time IAAF president, determined to further expand the web of a Federation that has gained two new members, Kosovo and South Sudan. “Our product is athletics, but our activity is entertainment,” suggested the Briton, before explaining that he wanted to change the international calendar in order to make it better understandable to the general public.
For Sergei Bubka, the blow is hard. Widely beaten in 2013 for the presidency of the IOC, the Ukrainian suffered a second consecutive setback. The day before, he said he was confident. His own calculations gave him a winner. But, as is often the case in such circumstances, some of his supporters had also promised their vote to his British rival. He will barely be able to console himself with one of the four positions of vice-president, a vote in which the Frenchman Bernard Amsalem was unsuccessful, receiving 108 votes in the second round. Sergei Bubka obtained 187 votes. He is ahead of the Qatari Dahlan Al Hamad (159), the Cameroonian Hamad Kalkala Malboum (115), and the Cuban Alberto Juantorena (111).
