Lord Sebastian Coe is celebrated not only as an Olympic gold medalist in middle-distance running during the 1980s but also as the architect behind one of the most widely acclaimed Olympic Games in modern history— the London 2012 Summer Olympics. Under his stewardship, the event was lauded for its impeccable organization, logistical precision, and commitment to athlete safety and comfort, setting a new standard in Olympic event management.

Following this success, Lord Coe’s influence in global sports governance expanded. In 2015, he was elected President of World Athletics, where his leadership earned the organization recognition as one of the most transparent international sports federations, according to the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations.

With his proven track record of integrity and innovation, Lord Coe is now a leading contender for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee. As the sporting world looks toward a new era, it is essential to better understand the man who may soon shape the future of the Olympic Movement.

In my conversations with Lord Coe, I found him to be approachable, insightful, and resolute — qualities that set him apart in the realm of sports leadership. Motivated by his vision, I sought to explore his ideas for transforming the Olympic Movement through this exclusive interview, which I am pleased to share with readers of Sportsin.

What follows is my discussion with Lord Sebastian Coe — a frontrunner in the race to lead the IOC and a figure whose influence continues to inspire athletes and sports enthusiasts worldwide.

At the start of our conversation, I posed my final question first: What are the main axes of change, in capital letters, that you propose for the future of the Olympic Movement?

“Putting sport first for all stakeholders, prioritizing excellence, protecting women’s sport, anti-doping, equity. It is absolutely essential to put sport center stage”.

“Plan now for the next generation, inspire youth, commitments to sustainability, embrace technology”.

“Put athletes at the center of every decision we make, care about their welfare, enhance their commercial recognition, involve them in governance and use their expertise in sport”.

“Seek growth opportunities with urgency, new revenue models, smart partnerships, our brand equity”.

“Properly empower the membership and key stakeholders to take responsibility for decision making, review governance structures to achieve a fundamental rebalancing of roles and responsibilities, bring out the best of the team we already have in the membership, our athletes, our NOCs, our International Federations and our partners”.

“The vision is simple, to use the inspirational power of the Olympic Movement to deliver the greatest show on earth every two years, to drive the development of the sport and the competition structures that support it”.

“Right now, we are not doing enough to prioritize our core purpose and be the sporting leaders we are meant to be. My focus is on embedding transformational change over the next four years and my aim is to build, reform, deliver”.

Pic show Lord Sebastian Coe, Sir Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis

I reminded him that, according to the ASOIF report, World Athletics has demonstrated the highest level of transparency among all international federations. I asked him how this achievement was attained, what mechanisms World Athletics has implemented, and how such a structure could be integrated into the IOC?
In response, he said:

“There is an appetite for change, a need to democratise governance, empower IOC members through decentralised decision making and most of all have open and transparent discussions”.

“At World Athletics we have created a strong elected Council which is 50 percent female and 50 percent male. We have clear roles and responsibilities laid out for our Council and our Executive Board and I encourage debate and discussion at all levels of management and decision making as I believe we make better decisions”.

“We have many smart people in the IOC membership from all walks of life and it is the responsibility of leadership to get the best out of their expertise The first thing I did at World Athletics was to ask three fundamental questions”.

How do we want to make decisions?
Who do we want in our sport?
And only when we had these answers did I ask the third question, How do we grow and flourish?

“These are good questions for any new leader to ask its Members and stakeholders”.

“Modern organisations cannot be run by top-down command and control. You must give smart people the opportunity and the responsibility to bring about change. The membership must be at heart of discussions and decisions”.

In response to a question about how, despite efforts, some international federations still struggle with unification and non-discrimination, What are your plans to improve these?
Lord Coe continued:

“Through the ASOIF Governance surveys and reports, most International Federations have made significant improvements on a number of important governance platforms and I am proud of the leadership role that World Athletics has, which I have been able to share with my ASOIF Board members. There is always more work to be done, but the first step is to ensure that federations have robust governance structures in place so that they can openly discuss and debate issues such as unification and non-discrimination. If the processes are in place for open dialogue, discourse and participation, federations will make the right decisions, decisions that their key stakeholders will understand.”

The conversation then turned to the common protocols between IFs and the IOC. I asked whether these protocols need to be reviewed.

“Today, many NOCs and IFs feel disempowered and unheard. These bodies are essential to the Olympic and Paralympic Movement. We need to strengthen collaboration and resources for NOCs and IFs to create new opportunities for them to grow their programs both nationally and globally.

International Federations and National Olympic Committees provide the essential sporting infrastructure on which the Olympic Games depend, year after year. Therefore, we must look at how the IOC can best support the sporting ecosystem that fuels the greatest spectacle on Earth every two years. We need to develop a new model to support the IFs, ensuring they have the right level of funding to continue to innovate and implement their programs, but we also need to ensure that athletes have a voice and are properly represented at the heart of the most important decisions we make.”

He also had this opinion about the challenges faced by female athletes

“Gender balance is something we have already achieved at the decision-making table in World Athletics, with our elected Council equally represented by women and men. I am proud that we achieved this four years ahead of the target date we had set. This did not happen by chance. We did it because we set goals. We created a gender leadership task force with the specific role of ensuring that we had a pipeline of women who understood the opportunities and pathways available and, most importantly, we had the support of male leaders at all levels of the sport who actively supported the goals and the plan.

The world I grew up in was very different to today, but one thing I am good at is building teams and bringing smart and talented people together to achieve co-created and equitable outcomes.”

In my last question to Lord, I asked: At the Paris Olympic Games, a serious issue arose with boxing and the participation of two athletes in the women’s categories who were accused of being of the opposite sex. The reactions were very strong, and the international press and the IOC itself were very concerned. Do you feel that the IOC has the procedures, regulations, and mechanisms in place to ensure that men participate in men’s categories and women in women’s categories? What do you think needs to be changed to protect parity and equality in competitions, and in some contact sports such as boxing, to protect the safety of female athletes themselves?

“Protecting the female category for me is non-negotiable and I know that this will not always please everyone. What happened in Paris could never happen in World Athletics, not because of me, but because we have clear policies that have been widely discussed, debated and well communicated. At World Athletics we are clear that gender should never trump biology.”