Poor Lord Coe. His dream of leading the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – the most powerful job in international sport – lies in tatters. He was roundly beaten by Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, the former Olympic swimming champion who will now become the first female president of the IOC. She received a whopping 49 of the 97 votes up for grabs.
Lord Coe was widely seen as the most qualified of the candidates – having won two Olympic gold medals, run the London 2012 Games and been World Athletics president since 2015 – but he garnered just 8 votes. The other leading candidate, Juan Antonio Samaranch, bagged 28 votes. Coe was viewed as the candidate for reform, and his defeat is a bitter blow for those seeking change at the Games.
During his time as head of World Athletics, Coe oversaw the introduction of a tough anti-doping programme as well as regulations on the involvement of athletes with differences in sexual development (DSD) and transgender athletes in female categories.
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