Athletics chief Seb Coe to consider running for IOC presidency

New Delhi: World Athletics president Sebastian Coe has experesse his wish to consider contesting to become the International Olympic Council president, even as incumbent Thomas Bach announced his intention to to seek extension beyond 2025.

Two-time 1500m Olympic gold medallist Coe has emerged as a possible candidate to succeed Bach.

“I’ve always made it clear that if an opportunity arose, I’d obviously give it serious thought,” Coe said at a media interaction on Sunday.

“The opportunity has arisen and clearly I need to think about it. The charter is pretty clear about timing here. This is only, at best, a consideration.”

The former athlete has experience of leading the 2012 London Olympics organising committee, though many consider him to have an outside chance.

Age could be one of the determinign factors for it as the 67-year-old could be handicapped due to an age limit of 70 for newer members like him, though exceptions could happen.

‘Athletics came out of Bolt’s shadow at Paris Olympics’

Coe also said that in Paris Olympics a bunch of extraordinary athletes emerged that wouls fill the void of Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt, who retired in 2017.

“We are no longer a sport about one person. That one person was Herculean, that one person transformed the popularity of our sport for a very clear period of time, and he consistently did that,” he said.

“You don’t replace Muhammad Ali, you don’t replace Usain Bolt. But I did say, ‘Mark my words, other athletes will come through’. I cannot remember a generation of more talented athletes.

“The way they’ve come through has been extraordinary. We’ve now got a greater bandwidth of talent across a broader range of disciplines than we’ve ever had in the sport.”

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 Two-time 1500m Olympic gold medallist Coe has emerged as a possible candidate to succeed incumbent IOC president Thomas Bach, who will step down after 2025  Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today