jx10 wrote:
oh please.. Coe is the man for the job. And replace him with whom? Davies is a good guy among a collection of shady, creepy characters. Apparently many people think pro sports is apples and sunshine but the truth is something we can't seem to handle. IAAF corruption is mini compared to practically every sport on the planet, thus my confusion to see the burner turned to max considering this latest series of foul play.
Can we figure out a way to put this aside and play ball when the season starts? Trust me, gymnastics, ice skating, and all the other pro federations have really dirty dealings. This IAAF stuff is small potatoes. If you only knew...
ps.. we need Coe and the influence of British corporate connections to drive the sport forward. Most of you will disagree (especially Americans) but the sport has prospered since Diack took over from the late but arrogantly corrupt Primo Nebiolo. Nebiolo took over from the equally corrupt Adriaan Paulen.
The operational side of the Nebiolo, Paulen days compared to the present seems almost primitive in retrospect.. Now, after a fairly good Diack term (perhaps the best IAAF President in history) I am expecting the Coe years to really shine once this latest scandal declines..
I would like to respond to a few of your points, respectfully. Firstly, I will say that I was initially hopeful that Coe was the man for the job, and I am one American who was happy to have a UK citizen heading the IAAF. I do not share Coe's political orientation, but I *thought* he was a man of principle and integrity. But--sorry--I just do not share your perspective that he and Davies are good guys trying to get do a good job among a bad crowd. Davies would like us to believe that, but his threat of legal action by way of response rather dissuades me from accepting his spin. The recent leaked e-mail indicates a willingness to participate in covering up doping that *cannot* be accepted by anyone currently employed by the IAAF. It's farcical to think he still works there, knowing what we now know. Secondly, I do not understand your point about corruption in "athletics" being small fry when compared to other sports. Track and Field (Athletics) may be small fry in terms of the marketplace, but in terms of corruption it ranks among the "best". We can thank Diack for that. And I am certainly well aware of the predilections of his predecessors. If my recollection is accurate, the IAAF had five leaders since 1912 (prior to Lord Coe), each of them outright stinkers, to a man, with strongly authoritarian, paternalistic, corrupt tendencies. To conclude; because I love this sport, and because I accept that we are stuck with Coe, I hope he *does* clean it up. But Coe's cluelessness--or complicity--about what Diack was up to makes serious change at IAAF about as likely as, well, take your pick of unlikely scenarios ... Donald Trump announcing his campaign was all a joke and dropping out on the even of the American election ... or ... Marita Koch announcing her world record should be scratched because she was a drug cheat. Hope springs eternal.