Seb Coe vows to ‘stand up for women’s sport’ as he plots IOC presidency bid

With Briton giving ‘serious thought’ to leadership campaign, he says ‘clear policy’ is needed to avoid repeat of Paris gender controversy

Sebastian Coe has given his strongest indication yet that he intends on running to become the next president of the International Olympic Committee after vowing to protect women’s sport for as long as possible after the boxing eligibility controversy of the Paris Games.
Outgoing president Thomas Bach, widely derided for his handling of the boxing scandal that has plagued these Olympics, opened the door for Lord Coe to run when he conceded he was “no longer the best captain” to lead.
Bach, 70, had been expected to change the Olympic Charter to enable himself to continue governing beyond the IOC’s maximum 12-year term limit. But the German, buffeted by criticism over allowing two biologically male fighters to win Olympic gold medals in women’s boxing, made the surprise announcement he would step down next June, saying: “New times are calling for new leaders.”
Coe diverges from Bach in his protection of the female category in sport. Asked by Telegraph Sport for his views on the IOC’s stance, Coe, 67, said: “You have to have a clear policy. If you don’t, you get into difficult territory – and I think that’s what we’ve witnessed here. The reality is very simple: I have a responsibility to preserve the female category, and I will go on doing that until a successor decides otherwise or the science alters.”
The IOC has been accused of neglecting their duty of care in running Olympic boxing, refusing to intervene as Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan took gold despite their sex tests revealing XY chromosomes, the male pattern. The IOC disputed the validity of the tests. 
Track and field has seen no such controversy in Paris, after World Athletics established a policy last year that athletes with differences in sexual development could only compete if they had suppressed their testosterone to below 2.5 nanomoles per litre for six months. The average female range is between 0.5 and 2.4.
When asked whether he would stand, Coe left no doubt he was interested in taking over the most powerful role in global sport. “I have always made it clear that if the opportunity arose, then I would obviously give it serious thought,” he said. “The opportunity has arisen and clearly I need to think about it.”
In a highly decorated career, Coe won back-to-back Olympic titles over 1500m and two silvers at 800m, before taking charge of the London 2012 Games and leading World Athletics for the past nine years. “I have been involved in the Olympic movement for the larger part of my life,” he said. “I have chaired an Olympic Games from bid to delivery, and two years of legacy after that. I have been privileged to compete in two Olympics.
“I have chaired a National Olympic Committee, and I now have the best job in the world as president of the No 1 Olympic sport. These are experiences that, when you put them together, as well as other aspects of my life, I think would be beneficial to the role.”