DOHA – Olympic supremo Thomas Bach on Friday congratulated Sebastian Coe on his re-election as president of the ruling athletics body IAAF and suggested the Briton could finally join the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The two-time 1,500 metres Olympic champion Coe has presided over the IAAF since 2015, but despite a proposal from Bach is yet to gain entry into the IOC because of a possible conflict of interest because he was co-owner of a sports marketing company.
"As an IOC member you are responsible for all sports. We had to look into a possible conflict of interest," Bach said, adding that the case is close to being resolved.
Bach did not want to confirm that Coe could already be elected into the IOC at next year's Tokyo Olympics.
Coe and world football boss Gianni Infantino are the two most prominent sports leaders not in the IOC.
Bach and Coe spoke to reporters after the traditional meeting between the IOC executive board and IAAF council ahead of athletics world championships, with the Doha championships to open later Friday.
The IAAF and IOC also touched on the Russian doping saga amid speculation Russia could face a ban from the Tokyo Games.
Russia remains suspended by the IAAF and its athletes can only compete as neutrals in Doha.
The IOC suspended Russia at the Pyeongchang Winter Games last year but any possible new sanctions, after allegations that Russia has manipulated the Moscow lab database before handing it to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), would now lie with WADA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and not the IOC.
"The IOC will respect these procedures. I can't speculate on what result the procedures will bring," Bach said.
The other challenging issue remains the new IAAF hyperandrogenism rules under which female athletes with an elevated testosterone level must lower it through medication if they want to compete in events from 400m to the mile.
The issue is not limited to athletics, where South African star Caster Semenya will not defend her 800m title in Doha because she refuses to use such medication.
The IOC is also engaged on the issue as well, with Bach saying that "the IOC with a group of experts (from all aspects of the delicate issue) is working on a framework which will then serve as a guideline for national federations."