Sebastian Coe: IAAF president steps down as Nike ambassador amid conflict of interest claims

The 59-year-old has come under increasing pressure to cut his ties with the sportswear giant

IAAF president Sebastian Coe (Getty Images)

The IAAF president, Sebastian Coe, has bowed to global pressure to finally end his £100,000-a-year deal with Nike but still insisted it had not been a conflict of interest.

Coe had previously stubbornly refused to end his 38-year association with the sportswear company, which employed him as an ambassador until he announced the end of that role following an IAAF council meeting in Monaco.

He was also adamant his hand had not been forced by the publication of an email from a leading Nike executive in which it was claimed Coe had inappropriately “reached out” to the then IAAF president Lamine Diack over the subsequently successful bid by Eugene, Oregon, to host the 2021 World Athletics Championships near to Nike’s headquarters.

“The current noise is not good for the IAAF and Nike and it’s a distraction to the 18-hour days we’re working to steady the ship,” said Coe in announcing his decision while still asserting, “no, I don’t believe it’s a conflict of interest.”

Coe has steadfastly been of the view that there was no conflict of interest, a stance he claimed was backed by the IAAF ethics commission in consultation this week.

Despite those assurances, he concluded: “I made a judgement that the issues that I’ve been dealing with in the last few weeks and the challenges faced from the organisation need an unflinching focus and the noises off are, frankly, a distraction. I concede that. I felt it important that I’m in a position to focus on that and not have to be dealing with the noises off.”


 IAAF president Sebastian Coe had a £100,000-a-year deal with Nike 
 (Getty)

On Tuesday, an email from Nike’s director of business affairs, Craig Masback, to Eugene bid chief Vin Lananna was made public in which it was claimed “he [Coe] made clear his support for 2021 in Eugene but made equally clear he had reached out to Diack specifically on this topic”.

Coe reiterated his stance that he not been guilty of any wrongdoing and that the revelations had no bearing on his decision to sever ties with Nike.

“It’s not because of the story two days ago,” he said. “It’s because as I said at the very beginning and within hours of succeeding to the presidency that I would, of course, make all the relevant adjustments [to his business portfolio] but it had to be made in a systematic and sensible way.

“This is the first full, face-to-face meeting with my colleagues as president of the council to take them through it before I discussed that publicly.”

Coe’s decision to give up that £100,000 pay cheque, as well as the additional announcement that his company CSM would not tender for work with either the IAAF or bidding cities during his presidency, looks certain to pave the way for a paid role as IAAF president. He will also step down as chairman of the British Olympic Association after next year’s Olympics.

IAAF council member Frankie Fredericks, the former 200m world champion who heads the IAAF’s athletes’ commission, to which Paula Radcliffe was one of six athletes (past and present) added, said there was an appetite for Coe to be remunerated. “Athletes want someone paid that gets the best services they can get,” said Fredericks.

Meanwhile, the Russian athletics federation (ARAF) has accepted its suspension from all international competitions without a hearing. Its general secretary, Mikhail Butov, a council member but not in attendance in Monaco, wrote to the IAAF deputy general secretary, Nick Davies, saying: “We recognise the suspension without a hearing. I hope for a positive result after a certain time and a full comeback to the IAAF family.”