BEIJING, China (Reuters) – European Athletics chief Svein Arne Hansen has called on the new IAAF president and council to put doping at the top of their agenda for the next four years.
Britain’s Sebastian Coe or Ukraine’s Sergey Bubka will be elected president of the sport’s governing body at Congress today along with a fresh council.
“It is clear our members feel there needs to be more proactive communication from the IAAF,” Norwegian Hansen said in a statement yesterday.
“They also say that if there is anything more our sport can do to get a handle on this issue it should be done as soon as possible.
“Doping in sport is a complex challenge and I think we need to expand the fight and our dialogue beyond new rules and the number of doping control tests carried out,” added Hansen, who will serve on the new council as the European representative.
Athletics has been rocked by doping allegations in recent weeks and by suggestions the IAAF does not do enough to tackle the problem.
Education is important, said Hansen, an advocate of lifetime bans for doping offenders, but not the complete solution.
“I think we should also look at the structure and programmes of the fight against doping in each country to understand how serious they are and the resources they have available,” he explained.
The sport’s premier event, the world championships in Beijing, starts on Saturday.

By Gene Cherry