IOC presidential candidate Seb Coe fighting against ’wokeism’ challenging global sport

The International Olympic Committee will vote for a new president this week. But only one candidate is willing to stand up to the wokism challenging global sport writes Julian Linden.

Less than a year after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was patting itself on the back and basking in the stunning success of the Paris Games, the most influential sporting organisation in the world is once again at the crossroads.

The shroud of secrecy around next week’s election of the new president to succeed Thomas Bach has Olympic insiders privately worried about the direction the movement seems to be heading in.

While the appointment of the most important position in world sport was traditionally decided solely on the merit of the candidates, there’s now growing fears that won’t happen this time amid concerns the IOC has become another victim of identity politics and leftist wokism.

It’s already the worst-kept secret in Olympic circles that senior figures are lobbying hard for former Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry to be fast-tracked into the top job because she’s a woman.

But not everyone thinks gender politics is the way the IOC should be going so a lot of members are backing Sebastian Coe, the champion British runner who masterminded the 2012 London Olympics and is now in charge of World Athletics.

There’s no question Coe has the best CV to cope with the enormous responsibility and complexity of the job - but he is facing pushback on two things outside of his control: one, that he’s a white male, and secondly, that he’s unafraid to make tough decisions.

While universally applauded for standing up to Russian state-sponsored doping, protecting the rights of women in the murky transgender debate, and putting more money in the pockets of athletes, a tight circle of Olympic powerbrokers were not impressed.

Lord Sebastian Coe MBE speaks to then-AOC President John Coates. Picture: Getty Images for AOC

But in an exclusive interview with this masthead ahead of next week’s vote, Coe said he was unapologetic for making tough decisions, though he doesn’t believe it’s the IOC job to solve every problem on the planet.

“Those decisions were not a home run for me,” he said. “But if you want to be popular, get a dog.

“There are other issues that sports shine a spotlight on but that’s not how we should be defining ourselves.

“We’re not the United Nations. We are the most powerful thought leaders in global sports and that’s what we should be focusing every ounce of our day on.”

At 68, Coe is not only the oldest candidate in the running for the presidency, he’s also the most open to change.

Sebastian Coe wins the Olmpic 1500m gold medal in 1980.

While he got a bloodied nose for being the first through the wall of banning transgender athletes, his rivals have finally joined him after previously sitting on the fence.

While his entire life has been linked with the Olympics, the English Lord also understands that the IOC needs to modernise if it wants to be relevant to younger people.

“The holy grail for any sporting organisation, whether it’s World Athletics, or it’s AFL, or whether it’s Formula One, is how do we engage the next generation?” he said.

“Of course we’ve got the challenge of screen-based activity and we’re living in a complicated, cluttered landscape where there are more things tugging at the sleeves of young people than ever before.

“So we’ve got to find smarter ways of engaging with young people.

Candidate to the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Sebastian Coe speaks during a press conference earlier this year. Picture: Getty Images

“We talk a very big game about modern technology as though it’s new and modern. It’s not, it’s been with us a long time so we’ve got to stop talking about that and we’ve got to start using it to properly engage and unearth new audiences and have an audience-first approach.

“All of this stuff we really do have to turbo charge.”

With Brisbane hosting the 2032 Olympics, Australia has a vested interest in who gets elected as the new president will be opening the Games and overseeing their preparations.

Coe, who has a daughter living in Australia, is a regular visitor to these shores and considers it as his second home.

If he does get elected - and all the indications are that next week’s secret ballot is shaping as a three-way battle between himself, Coventry and Juan Antonio Jr - he wants to ensure Brisbane is as successful, if not better, than London in 2012.

International Olympic Committee's chair for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games, Kirsty Coventry, has pitched to be the next IOC president. Picture: Jacquelin Magnay

And to do that, he wants to make changes within the IOC, including empowering existing members such as Australia’s Ian Chesterman and Jess Fox to use their skills and knowledge to better help athletes.

“It will be purpose with care,” he said.

“We came out of Paris as a very strong brand but there are still some significant fault lines, and those fault lines need resolution within the membership itself.

“There are some extraordinary, talented, experienced people across a whole bandwidth of skills, commercial, political, some are members of royal families, there are people who have become cultural icons.

“I just don’t happen to think we’re using them as well as I would be using them. So empowering the members to actually help shape that journey is absolutely critical.

“When we wake up each morning we need to be trying to figure out how we can make this better for the athletes. If you have them at the centre of every project, the rest will flow naturally.”