Mo Farah backs Lord Coe to clean up athletics

Scandals continue to hit athletics but double Olympic champion Mo Farah has backed new IAAF president Lord Coe to successfully clean the sport up.

Former IAAF consultant Papa Massata Diack and Russian officials Valentin Balakhnichev and Alexei Melnikov have received life bans over claims of covering up doping.

Russia as a nation have also been suspended from international competition following systematic doping offences.

Lord Coe, who succeeded Diack's father Lamine Diack as IAAF president in August, has also come under pressure recently due to his former ambassadorial role with Nike.

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President of International Association of Athletics Federations Sebastian Coe

Image credit: Reuters

But Farah is adamant Coe – who won Olympic 1500m gold at both Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 – is the man to restore athletics'damaged reputation.

"Obviously you don't want to see any bad things in athletics but at the same time it's clearing up, getting rid of the bad ones and I'm up for guys getting what they deserve," said Farah.

"We [Great Britain] lead by example and we want the same rules to apply to other countries.

"It's going to take a bit of time but hopefully with him [Lord Coe] stepping in he will do a great job."

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