Former Olympic 1500m champions Sebastian Coe has been voted new president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
Englishman, Lord Coe, 58, succeeds Senegalese Lamine Diack, 82, who has been head of athletics’ governing body since 1999.
The elections was held in Beijing just three days before the 2015 World Championships.
Votes came from the sport’s 214 federations in the wake of the fall-out from a series of doping allegations.
The other contender was Ukrainian Olympic pole vaulter Sergey Bubka.
Delighted and humbled by the confidence shown in me by the IAAF family – thank you, now the hard work begins
— Seb Coe (@sebcoe) August 19, 2015
The two-time 1500 Olympic Gold medalist won 115 votes from the voting members that make up the IAAF, with Bubka receiving 92.
Lord Coe’s initial term will be four years.
Both Coe and Bubka, 51, who won Olympic pole vault gold in 1988, had pledged to reform athletics in their manifestos.
(Curled from the BBC)
