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January 23, 2016

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UK embassies lobbied to get votes for Coe

THE British government ordered ambassadors around the world to lobby athletics leaders to vote for Sebastian Coe in the IAAF presidential election, aiming to ensure “British interests are protected,” diplomatic messages revealed.

After a “Dip-Tel” — a diplomatic telegram described as “sensitive” — was sent to embassies and high commissions three months before the August 2015 election, British officials pointed out in e-mail exchanges that it didn’t include “guidance on how/if political officials can lobby in support ... whether this crosses any IAAF red lines.”

The IAAF said it was “delighted” the British government assisted Coe.

The government deliberations, released to the AP following a freedom of information request, provide an insight into how the machinery of Prime Minister David Cameron’s government swung into action to help a high-profile figure gain an apolitical international job.

Coe, who organized the 2012 Olympics, beat former Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergei Bubka by 115 votes to 92 in the vote. Coe announced in November, following media inquiries three months after the vote, that 63,000 pounds (US$90,000) was spent by government-funded UK Sport agency on campaign public relations.

Coe, a former member of parliament representing the ruling Conservatives, used allies in the party to have diplomatic channels advance his candidacy and ensure he was on the “Senior International Appointments” grid, a list usually reserved for securing top positions in organizations like the United Nations or NATO.

Clive Efford, the shadow sports minister for the opposition Labour Party, said the government should not have lobbied for Coe, describing it as “stupid and crass.”

“I don’t think it’s justifiable for any politician to interfere in the election of a president of a sports governing body in that way,” Efford said. “Imagine if we were talking about (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. We would be scandalized.”

Former sports minister Hugh Robertson, who worked on the IAAF campaign, became increasingly anxious in e-mail exchanges about delays instructing embassies to lobby for Coe, warning: “We will have let Seb down.”

While discussing the merits of throwing the government’s weight behind the campaign, one British official flagged up the opportunity presented by the escalating doping problem in Russian athletics.

In public, Coe was still downplaying concerns about Russia and backing the integrity of its athletes and leaders, while e-mails were passing through government computers in early 2015 highlighting how the scandal could be advantageous for the campaign push.

“We could play this (campaign) low key with the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office),” an official in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport wrote in February. “But due to the high profile nature of Seb’s campaign, and the current allegations of widespread doping in Russian athletics, we could decide to take a more formal approach to maximize the level of support HMG (government) can offer to ensure the best chance of success.”

Only since Coe was elected president has he accepted that there was systematic doping in Russia and an IAAF cover-up, following the publication of World Anti-Doping Agency investigations.

The opening five months of Coe’s presidency have been overshadowed by scrutiny of his failure to be more inquisitive about corruption allegations involving his predecessor Lamine Diack while Coe was an IAAF vice president. Coe was also criticized for retaining sports commercial work while leading the governing body of track and field, a matter foreseen in campaign e-mails as an “inevitable question” he would face about “potential conflicts.”




 

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