Coe: London 2012 on track; doesn't rule out IAAF top job

By Andreas Schirmer Jun 21, 2011, 12:47 GMT

Dusseldorf - London is well on track in its preparations for the 2012 Olympics but a lot of work remains to be done, according to organizing committee chief Sebastian Coe.

Lord Coe said in an interview with the German Press Agency dpa that first test events at the completed venues are to be held soon and that the security concept will not undergo big changes now that Osama Bin Laden is dead.

Hosting the Games next year is Coe's top priority, but he does not rule out seeking the presidency of the world governing athletics body IAAF in 2015.

'Maybe. But it is not my intention to think about this now. First of all I am the host of the Olympic Games, but I have productive years ahead of me. I want to spend these productive years in sport. And athletics is my sport,' Coe told dpa.

Coe, the 1980 and 1984 Olympic 1,500 metres champion, said he is not wasting any thoughts on Ukrainian pole vault legend Sergei Bubka possibly running against him for the IAAF top job.

The 54-year-old Coe also said he remains loyal to current IAAF supremo Lamine Diack, who is seeking a final term in office in August and is under investigation by the International Olympic Committee over corruption allegations.

'He wants to be re-elected and he should be re-elected,' Coe said of the 77-year-old Senegalese Diack. 'He was always very generous towards me and understands that I have to concentrate on many other things, including a big athletics event in London.'

The Olympics are the biggest challenge for Coe so far, and he hopes for great Games in which athletics plays a dominant role as in the past despite lower television interest.

'Athletics and Olympic Games are still synonymous - regardless of TV and marketing,' the LOCOG boss Coe said.

Coe said that preparations for the Games are going well: 'We are far, but not too far. It would be dangerous to be too far. I say without concern that we have a lot of work to do.

'The venues are ready. They will be handed over in a few weeks and can be tested.'

Coe said that 'London will do everything necessary to provide safe Games', and that Bin Laden's recent death in his hideout in Pakistan in an American attack would not change the concept.

'Londoners know that we live in a complicated world. The security concept must be changed permanently and react to the various demands,' Coe said.

Coe said he wants to bring the best of past Olympics to the British capital for a memorable edition.

'I want to bring the best from everywhere to London. The best of the 2000 Games in Sydney with the party atmosphere. I want to take the spirit and humanity from Barcelona 1992, the forensic eye for detail from Beijing (2008), and that the athletes were at the centre there. And from Vancouver 2010 I would like to bring to London how this city really absorbed the Games,' said Coe.

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