This has Russia written all over it. Interestingly enough, the account that posted the fake Epstein connection appears to be a Russian Pro-MAGA account. Who would have thought...
I perhaps should have led with the Athletic article instead of explaining how I got to starting this thread as I think that confused some people.
I have rewritten the first post to this:
It looks like there was a nasty smear campaign online with fake AI audio and fake news reports to smear Seb Coe as a racist and visitor of Epstein Island before the IOC presidency vote. Pretty disgusting stuff.
The Athletic (NYTimes) had an article before the IOC Election titled "Strange Race to Lead Olympic Sports Gets Stranger" that talked about a smear campaign against some of the candidates. It said it was the talk of the IOC gathering:
"This past weekend, social media posts and little-known websites spread lurid claims of previous actions by two of the candidates, without providing evidence or citing sources — suggestions of personal wrongdoing serious enough to sink their campaigns. Neither the I.O.C. nor the candidates have commented publicly, but the allegations became grist for gossip at the I.O.C. gathering."
I didn't think too much of it but now it looks pretty clear that one of the smear campaigns was against Coe and it was really nasty stuff. FAKE allegations that he visited Epstein Island and FAKE audio implying he was a racist.
This video which got millions of views on X alone claims Coe visited Epstein island 11 times and was one of Epstein's closest associates:
Pretty clear one of the smear campaigns was against Coe. Pretty disgusting. Love to hear your thoughts. Surprised this hasn't been reported anywhere. I can see how the Athletic didn't want to give credence to it, but it's already out there and Seb is already being smeared with it being viewed millions of times. When the stuff in the videos is fake, and the allegations false, combatting it seems the better way to go.
So yeah, two sides to this right?
1) Is/was there some kind of BS smear campaign at play - it certainly would appear so and given how we know modern politics works, completely plausible.
2) What's more interesting is to think about who is behind it and why. Love or hate Coe, he's been at the helm of some pretty important and monolithic stances in the world of sports.
- has not reversed course on Russia being banned from IAAF/WA competitions as a nation due to state-sponsored doping
- was the first global sporting president to grow a pair (no pun intended, or sort intended) and take a rational and logical stance on intersex/DSD athletes always finding their way into competing against female athletes, and made the best and fairest sanctions he possibly could.
Connect the potential dots from here. We have this "Putin congratulations" situation which could mean nothing ("you can't control who congratulates you") - but who knows, but more interesting in the other issue. You have a number of African IOC members and clearly the DSD issue has impacted African athletes the most. Coe I think has quite generously avoided banning Kenya in the same fashion as Russia but who knows what his actual stance is?
Yes WA can set it's rules for a number of things but the IOC is very powerful in it's influence. Really makes you wonder
In my view,it is a good thing that Seb Coe lost.It is time for new faces to lead the sport.It is a shame that some people want to cling on forever to these positions,which are no one's birthright....I wish Kirsty Coventry all the best.Good riddance to Seb Coe.
Occam's razor: Coe lost to a better, more persuasive candidate. But if it makes you feel better to believe that the establishment candidate was somehow conspired against, then knock yourself out
Occam's razor: Coe lost to a better, more persuasive candidate. But if it makes you feel better to believe that the establishment candidate was somehow conspired against, then knock yourself out
But he was actually, literally conspired against, High Hopes.
this is a fun thread despite the seriousness of the matter for coe.
we have putin, russians, ioc, epstein, conspiracy and what not.
suffice it to say, that politics is a complex discipline, and the boards are full of americans and a few brits that don't know sheit from shinola.
the russians right now are in the crosshairs internationally by the various organizations, where a pro-russian stance is a death blow for anyone seeking nomination for IOC, which is the ultimate politically correct big boys club .
going to Epsteins island doesn't mean anything by itself. as if you visited Russia, you're a KGB agent. utter nonsense. now if you visited Epstein's island and stayed multiple times or a week at a time, well, that's worth looking into.
coe would have peed off who's who in the IOC, central committee, where he may have been seen as too powerful, and they wanted a shill, patsy,
a dumb jock person who is ignorant of the inner workings, suffices nicely, nice check, do some speeches, tow the party line. along the way the dumb jock will get smarter, and learn a thing or two about the organization of IOC no doubt, which time, if they exercise their "power" in complete ignorance, which they don't have, they will be kicked out, ceremoniously or unceremoniously.
most of these "leaders" that come in, in ignorance, tend to adapt and play ball, for the big check, rationalizing, what can you do, it is the way it is.
Coe can work from the outside, and help the sport and athletes, and avoid the rat's nest which is the IOC from top to botton.
You can't stand Kenyans, and your racism obviously clouds your judgment. If the two Kenyans doped, then maybe Coe also doped. The bottom line is that the guy was wiped down by an African lady during the IOC. Do you really believe the nonsense that Diack was corrupt and Coe didn't know?
Bach and Putin were never going to allow Coe to win. I posted that here and elsewhere numerous times. Whatever it took to disqualify Coe, they'd have no trouble going there and beyond.
Occam's razor: Coe lost to a better, more persuasive candidate. But if it makes you feel better to believe that the establishment candidate was somehow conspired against, then knock yourself out
Now how do I make myself sound like I have the best argument?
Ah, I'll throw in Occam's Razor
...and if they keep carrying on, I'll mention Hitler, that'll shut them up
You can't stand Kenyans, and your racism obviously clouds your judgment. If the two Kenyans doped, then maybe Coe also doped. The bottom line is that the guy was wiped down by an African lady during the IOC. Do you really believe the nonsense that Diack was corrupt and Coe didn't know?
No, the fact that the two Kenyans competed during periods of zero testing in Kenya (and in the case of Kipketer, zero testing for EPO), together with 400 doping bans in Kenya since then, clarifies my judgment.
This has Russia written all over it. Interestingly enough, the account that posted the fake Epstein connection appears to be a Russian Pro-MAGA account. Who would have thought...
The "leaked" audio sounds like AI. That is nothing like his usual cadence when he talks.
Coe would have to answer the Epstein issue. Not a good thing for him to have logged that many flights to the Island. Of course, he is on a very long list with a lot of others who have been able to shrug off the association.
Given Coventry won and some of the sources, it looks like some Africans wanted to keep Coe out.
It's obviously AI, and you'd have to be dumb to believe that Coe visited Epstein island just because some loon on X said he did.
Oh boy. You can definitely find people who genuinely believe with every fiber of their being that Seb Coe visited Epstein island.
Occam's razor: Coe lost to a better, more persuasive candidate. But if it makes you feel better to believe that the establishment candidate was somehow conspired against, then knock yourself out
You know you raise an interesting conundrum.
Yes Coe was the "establishment candidate" and as a male going up against a female in the current societal climate, there is a stigma/stereotype attached to this too.
One thing I really don't know about was if Coventry was "better" than Coe or vice versa but I find it hard to believe that Coes stances against the Russian federation (a nation which somehow manages to interject and influence almost everything political on the planet) and his stance against DSD/intersex athletes impacting womens competitive sport was not at play here. In the case of the latter, this is an issue that so far has only really impacted athletes of African descent and Africa is a continent that has been given a significant amount of power in terms of voting rights etc in almost every sporting "council" on the planet - especially FIFA and the IOC.
I have never really like Coe tbh - and I don't mean in the last 5 years, I mean for a long time. But his bravery in facing up to topics that needed to be faced up to - topics which other global sporting body presidents just "Homer Simpson into the bushes" on for obvious reasons not related to the good of the sports they represent, is actually really commendable.
And it's just my opinion/feeling that this "really" didn't help him in this instance which is actually quite depressing.