Lord Coe to be grilled by MPs over Russian doping scandal

The International Association of Athletics Federations president is expected to appear before the culture, media and sport select committee before Christmas to answer questions on the crisis which has seen Russia implicated in “state-sponsored” doping and Coe’s predecessor Lamine Diack arrested.

Lord Coe, who has taken some flak over the IAAF’s role in the scandal, will also be quizzed about continuing as a Nike brand ambassador. It has been raised as an area for possible conflicts of interest - if for example the company also sponsors drugs cheats.

Committee member Damian Collins, MP for Folkestone and Hythe, confirmed he would ask Coe, who is also chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), about his continuing Nike connections.

He said: “If athletics is going to have a new clean image it can’t be right for the president of the IAAF to be sponsored by Nike. Seb Coe should give up his role as a Nike ambassador. We are also going to ask about the process of how the IAAF has handled this doping scandal.”

It comes as 82-year-old Diack, who is being investigated by French police on suspicion of receiving more than 1million euros to cover up positive drugs tests, was provisionally suspended as an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee.

Meanwhile Russia’s drug-testing laboratory in Moscow has also been provisionally suspended and the country also faces calls for it to be stripped of the IAAF World Championships next year. It comes after an independent commission revealed 1,417 samples were deliberately destroyed on the orders of the lab’s director.

Russia is facing a ban from the Rio 2016 Olympics and UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner has called for the country to be also banned from international athletics competitions and stripped of hosting next year’s World Junior Championships in Kazan.

Warner said: “The worst thing would be for Russia to turn up at the World Indoor Championships in Oregon in March or to host the juniors and we find out that nothing has changed.”

Former Great Britain long-jumper Jade Johnson has said possible conflicts of interest with Nike meant Coe should quit as a brand ambassador. Johnson said: “When you’re in bed with a company like Nike, who for me don’t have a problem sponsoring one of the most renowned cheats in our sport at the moment, Justin Gatlin, that to build trust and to show integrity and transparency that [Coe leaving his role as ambassador] is one of the first things he needs to do ASAP.”

Former sports minister Sir Hugh Robertson, vice-chairman of the BOA, said Coe was the right person to lead athletics out of the crisis. Robertson said: “I believe 100 per cent that Seb Coe is the man to sort this out, because of his record generally as an athlete and as a sports administrator, and his strong stance against doping throughout his career.”

Coe later appeared at a conference in London, where he vowed to succeed in his mission to clean up athletics, but acknowledged he faced a massive task. “I won’t fail, but I also accept that this is a huge journey,” he said. “This is a long journey and we have to start somewhere and I know what I have to do.”