Sebastian Coe’s position as the head of world athletics was hanging by a thread after his claims that he did not mislead Parliament were torn to shreds by new evidence.
David Bedford, one of the most respected figures in athletics, revealed he told Lord Coe of his corruption concerns for the sport before sending him a crucial email. Coe, the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), admits he did not read the email, despite the advanced warning from Bedford.
Instead, he passed it on to the IAAF ethics commission, remarkably ignoring its contents.While Coe insisted he acted in the correct manner, there is an increasing loss of confidence in Coe’s billing as the man who can clean up the sport he once graced.
In a dramatic 48 hours, following a joint investigation by Sportsmail and the BBC’s Panorama programme, Coe is fighting for his career — on the very day the IAAF confirmed Russia’s ban from the Rio Olympics.
It should have been a day for celebrating Coe’s progress in the fight against drugs and corruption. Instead he faced further questions about his future — and was asked: ‘Can you continue in your position — and will you report yourself to your own ethics commission?’ He ducked the question.
Coe, the man who won the 2012 Olympics for London, still insists he has done no wrong and said: ‘Dave Bedford did speak to me — by memory at the time it was at the European Championships or around that time in Zurich.
‘He talked about rumours and allegations but not details, then forwarded me the email which I forwarded to Michael Beloff at the ethics commission.
‘He wasn’t specific (about what was in the email) and I don’t actually recollect it being a telephone conversation, I think we met face to face.’
When asked why he didn’t open the email, Coe said: ‘Look, it’s very simple. It was the case and has always been the case I have hundreds of conversations with people in athletics detailing all sorts of issues, sometimes rumour, sometimes allegations.
‘There is an ethics board and my standard response has always been that whatever you know and whatever you want to relay forward to the ethics board, then that’s exactly what it is there for.’
Coe now faces fresh questioning by the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee and has said he will return to be grilled by them towards the end of the year.
Coe had been accused of misleading the DCMS in December 2015 by Damian Collins MP after telling MPs he did not know the details of the corruption scandal in athletics until the German television documentary broadcast in December 2014.
But Sportsmail, in a joint investigation with the BBC, uncovered evidence that Coe was sent an email detailing the corruption allegations by former world record-holder Bedford.
Collins said: ‘If Dave Bedford spoke to Seb Coe before sending the email it makes it even more incredible that he didn’t know about the nature of the allegations.’
On Wednesday a spokesperson for Coe, Jackie Brock-Doyle, insisted he had not misled MPs because he did not open the email sent by Bedford, instead simply forwarding it to the IAAF ethics commission.
A statement issued by Brock-Doyle said: ‘He did receive an email from Dave Bedford that said, “The attachments relate to an issue that is being investigated by the IAAF EC (Michael Beloff)”.
‘This was enough for Seb Coe to forward the email to the ethics commission. He did not feel it was necessary to read the attachments.’
And in conversation with Sportsmail, Brock-Doyle said: ‘The worst Seb can be accused of is lacking curiosity.’
But yesterday, in an interview with the Evening Standard, Bedford revealed that he actually had a conversation with Coe prior to sending him the email.
‘The conversation probably went . . . I asked Seb if he knew about it (the allegations to the ethics board) and he said “No”,’ said Bedford. ‘I said, “I’ll forward you this documentation because someone at a very senior level needs to know about it”.’
Bedford had already arranged for the allegations — which centred on a complaint that concerned Liliya Shobukhova, the former London Marathon winner who was made to pay 8450,000 to cover up her doping offences, and implicated disgraced former IAAF consultant Papa Massata Diack — to be passed to the IAAF ethics commission in April 2014. He approached Coe because he also wanted to alert someone he trusted at the top — the double Olympic champion was IAAF vice- president at the time — to the extent of what is now regarded as the biggest corruption scandal in world sport.
Earlier yesterday, DCMS select committee chair Jesse Norman responded to the original Sportsmail/BBC allegations by saying Coe would probably be asked to return to explain himself to Parliament.
Norman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I’d say it’s almost certain we’ll want to have Lord Coe back in front of the committee . . . these are very serious matters.
‘I think when Lord Coe appeared in front of the committee in December his answers were very general ones in many ways, specifically on this issue to my colleague (the Labour MP) Ian Lucas, and the idea he received this email and, as I understand from his account, not have opened it, having been associated with the IAAF in a senior position at that point for six years, and aware of the possibility of individual cases of dishonesty and corruption, is very, very disturbing.’
Asked if he has confidence in Coe in his current role, Norman replied: ‘I think that the jury is out as matters presently stand.’
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