Sebastian Coe on Olympic gender controversy: ‘Women’s sport is sacrosanct’
Coe is standing to become president of the International Olympic Committee
Sebastian Coe has promised he will introduce a “clear-cut” policy to protect female sport if he is elected president of the International Olympic Committee.
Coe says he has been “in training for most of his life” for the Olympic movement’s top job, but refuses to be a “vanilla” candidate and strongly believes the IOC is in need of a major reset.
That includes ensuring athletes are fairly remunerated from the billion-dollar revenues which flow into the IOC’s coffers, but he also wants to make the protection of female sport a top priority.
Double Olympic champion Coe, who is the president of World Athletics, admits he was “uncomfortable” watching the boxing tournament in Paris, where two athletes disqualified from the previous year’s World Championships for allegedly failing gender eligibility criteria – Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting – won gold medals.
“It has to be a clear-cut policy and international federations must have some flexibility,” he said.
“But it is incumbent on the IOC to create that landscape. It’s a very clear proposition to me – if you do not protect (the female) category, or you are in any way ambivalent about it for whatever reason, then it will not end well for women’s sport.
“I come from a sport where that is absolutely sacrosanct.”
Asked if the Olympic boxing tournament had made him wince, he replied: “I was uncomfortable.”
Individuals who have gone through male puberty have been banned from female elite-level events in Coe’s sport since March 2023 and World Athletics has also tightened its rules on athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD).
The IOC ran the Olympic boxing tournament – including its entry criteria – and faced criticism over allowing Khelif and Lin to compete. The organisation has condemned the abuse directed at the fighters during and since the Games.
Khelif is taking legal action over reports she has male XY chromosomes and insists she was born a woman and lives as a woman.
The IOC has faced criticism from academics over its transgender inclusion framework which says sports should work from a position where there is “no presumption of advantage” to transgender women.
Coe is also determined to examine ways to ensure more of the IOC’s income – recorded at 7.6 billion US dollars for the cycle ending with the 2021 Tokyo Games – flows to athletes in all sports and the international federations.
World Athletics introduced a USD 50,000 prize for the gold medallists in the 48 track and field events in Paris and Coe said: “I have always talked about the wherewithal and the well-being of the athletes and giving them financial skin in the game.
“I think that can be done in a way that is respectful of the Olympic philosophy, but I have to accept we’re in a different landscape.”
Coe was speaking to the media for the first time since he was officially confirmed as a candidate.
Coe has taken on almost every single stakeholder role within the Olympic movement at some point in his career – athlete, national Olympic committee boss, international federation president, Games bid team leader and even marketing agency executive.
I don't know it's the toughest (race) I've ever been in, but it's the one I'm probably best prepared for
Presenting himself as the reform candidate could come with pitfalls, with others in the running such as Kirsty Coventry and Juan Antonio Samaranch potentially viewed as continuity candidates.
“I have been in training for this for most of my life,” Coe said.
“I think I can make a difference and I do have a plan and a vision for what that difference looks like.
“It would be extraordinary (to be president). Anyone who joins an athletics club at the age of 11 and spends their whole life in the Olympic movement, to be entrusted with (the presidency) – that would be a massive moment.
“I think change is necessary, but in a respectful and sensible and thoughtful way, not at the risk of destabilising. We’re in a fast-changing landscape and change is absolutely crucial.
“I have a passion for the Olympic movement. It’s been my life.
“I don’t know it’s the toughest (race) I’ve ever been in, but it’s the one I’m probably best prepared for. I don’t think there’s any job I’ve done where I genuinely think I’ve been better prepared for it than this one.”
Coe is expected to set out his full manifesto either next month or early in January, ahead of a presentation to IOC members in Lausanne on January 30.
He wants to make the members he will present to – and whom he hopes will vote for him – more central to the IOC’s functioning.
“We’ve got exceptional people sitting in that membership and I want to make sure that they are absolutely utilised to the best of their ability,” he said.
“I’m not just talking about commercial – we’ve got cultural leaders, we’ve got film makers, we’ve got educationalists, we’ve got coaches, we’ve got athletes, we’ve got media owners, we’ve got royal families, we’ve got politicians.”
Members will elect the next president at the IOC Session in Athens in March.
PA