Lord Coe’s unparalleled reputation as Britain’s leading sporting statesman is in danger of being tainted by his continued links with Nike.
Since becoming president of athletics ruling body IAAF last month, Coe has been under increasing pressure to relinquish his long-time role as a £90,000-a-year ambassador for Nike.
But Coe, usually so sure-footed in all his dealings, has shown a strange reluctance to do so, pointing to the Nike association lasting throughout his London 2012 tenure.
Coe (left, pictured with Paula Radcliffe in 2006) is paid £90,000-a-year to work as an ambassador for Nike
Yet it is a no-brainer that Coe, with his zero-tolerance attitude to doping, should have parted company with Nike after the sportswear giant’s toxic decision to sponsor double drugs cheat Justin Gatlin in March. Now he is global leader of track and field, the longer he delays the more that stellar image will be affected.
Coe has said he wants time to sort out his personal business affairs after his IAAF election victory. Certainly the next board meeting of the British Olympic Association, which he also chairs — to be held ironically at the Manchester offices of adidas — is looming on October 20 as a realistic deadline for that wholly necessary Nike divorce announcement.
It would be hard to find anyone at the BOA top table who believes Coe should remain with Nike, however complex his contractual agreement or the exit strategy. It makes far more sense for Coe to be paid handsomely for his IAAF duties, which currently carries no salary.
Criticising heroes does not come easy, especially for someone who has been a friend for 40 years since the economic and social history class of 75 at Loughborough University.
Nike decided to back double drugs cheat Justin Gatlin by sponsoring the 33-year-old sprinter
Organisers of the Rugby World Cup have been saved the embarrassment of the colourful Francis Kean, acting chairman of the Fiji Rugby Union, attending his team’s showcase opener against England at Twickenham a week on Friday.
Kean served 18 months in prison for manslaughter after he kicked and punched a guest to death during a drunken brawl at a family wedding in 2006. It is understood Kean was reluctant to apply for a UK visa knowing his application would not have been approved.
Is it any wonder that multi-millionaire Professional Footballers Association boss Gordon Taylor, whose £1.4million- a-year salary was augmented by a staggering £2m long-service bonus in 2014, intends to carry on in charge of his personal fiefdom indefinitely, according to high-level football union insiders?
Gordon Taylor earns £1.4million-a-year in his role as Professional Footballers Association chairman
The FA International Committee, once the most powerful group in the organisation responsible for hiring and firing England managers, have been kicked into the long grass. After being marginalised to a ceremonial role, that duty has now been taken away, with the FA letting their professional game representatives on the FA council draw up a list of blazers willing to travel as England ambassadors.
Norman’s bad timing
Jesse Norman, loose-cannon chairman of the DCMS Sports Select Committee, might just as well have named Paula Radcliffe under parliamentary privilege as give the game away about the ‘British…London marathon winner’ implicated by the Sunday Times in their unproven doping allegations. His register of interests includes two payments for articles in sister paper The Times this year.
Marathon runner Paula Radcliffe insists she is a clean athlete despite posting three 'suspicious' samples
Domenico Scala, self-publicist chairman of FIFA’s audit & compliance committee, has further blurred the FIFA confusion by publishing his own reform proposals. An official reform group mandated by the ExCo committee are currently working on the numerous changes needed. So nothing is gained by Scala putting in his obvious recommendations — integrity checks, term limits, salary transparency, revised World Cup bidding rules — apart from him grandstanding during a tedious 1hr 20min conference call for a prominent role in the new FIFA. As he said himself: ‘This is nothing to do with anyone else.’ Quite.
Giles Scott, Finn class world champion and one of eight sailors already selected for Rio 2016, has had to wait until Sir Ben Ainslie’s Olympic retirement for his chance. But the word inside British sailing is that it is worth putting your mortgage on Scott winning gold in Rio.
Giles Scott, who has been selected to compete in Rio, is hoping to fill the void left by Sir Ben Ainslie
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