Sebastian Coe says politicians should be kept off sport’s steering wheel

Sebastian Coe warned on Friday at the European Championships in Birmingham that politicians must be prevented from controlling sporting decisions, saying, "The balance is keeping the politicians on the bus but not letting them anywhere near the steering wheel." He made the remark while answering questions about avoiding political turmoil at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Coe is the president of World Athletics, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and the former head of the 2012 London Olympic bidding and organising committees, and he served as an elected British MP. "I ran the London Games. I know it’s really important that you have really good working relationships with government, prime ministers," Coe said, adding that "The delivery of the Games is in large part predicated on those relationships — with Treasury, Defense, Homeland Security, in our terms the Home Office."

Addressing the boundary between politics and sport, Coe said resisting direct political pressure requires organisational resilience and quoted the line of refusal precisely: "I hear what you say, but thank you and goodnight." He added, "I think I probably achieved that quite well in London. But not having those relationships is dangerous. Of course, there’s a balance."

Coe also commented on the fallout from a controversial overturned red card at the World Cup, noting criticism of FIFA after U.S. President Donald Trump phoned FIFA president Gianni Infantino urging that U.S. forward Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension be overturned, and that FIFA subsequently lifted the suspension. The article noted Trump will be nearing the end of his second term when the LA Games take place.

On private equity in sport, Coe said Infantino’s proposal to sell World Cup profits to private investors had contributed to a fight over his leadership but argued the bidding was not unprecedented: "For the last decade, private equity or sovereign wealth funds have been investing in sports," he said. He added that "The ambitions of each member federation ... are tied to their ability to raise revenues" and observed, "Private equity is a big play in many sports. There are individual athletics federations at this very moment I know are discussing partnerships with external sources of revenue including private equity. ... That’s the way it should be, and that’s what I’ve encouraged our federations to look at."

On safeguards for such deals, Coe said: "What you want to absolutely make sure is when that does take place that your sport has the kinds of governances and checks and balance and the type of consultation that allows people to understand the rationale, the ambition and what the execution looks like. That is critical." He noted World Athletics faces expiring broadcast and sponsorship agreements in 2029 and described seeking external revenue as "an absolutely critical conversation to have," adding that "That debate has been taking place for two or three years, particularly at executive board level."

Turning to Russia, Coe said World Athletics will defend the ban it imposed after the invasion of Ukraine even though the International Olympic Committee lifted a suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and told Olympic sports bodies they no longer need to vet Russian athletes to compete as neutrals; Russian Athletics has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn World Athletics’ sanctions. He said, "The primacy of an international federation to determine what eligibility looks like in the sport is the base of the pyramid. When we have been to the court before on previous occasions, that concept has been upheld. This is not about politics or passports. This is about the integrity of competition. That is the position we will be defending."

Coe said he will attend the Court of Arbitration for Sport to defend World Athletics’ position, stating explicitly, "I will be in the Court of Arbitration (for Sport) defending our position," and adding, "We will continue to do what we think is in the best interest of our sport."