Doping scandal: Great Britain captain says ‘naive’ Sebastian Coe may be the wrong man for the job

Great Britain’s World Championships captain Martyn Rooney has cast doubt on Coe's position

(GETTY)

Sebastian Coe has been naive in his comments about doping in athletics and may not be the right person to handle the issue, according to Great Britain’s World Championships captain Martyn Rooney.

Lord Coe was last night in an International Association of Athletics Federations Council meeting to determine the fate of Russia after this week’s revelations from the World Anti-Doping Agency.

He will appear before MPs on 2 December to answer questions on the handling of the doping scandal and his links with sportswear firm Nike. He served for eight years as IAAF vice-president under the now suspended Lamine Diack, who faces allegations of taking bribes to cover up the positive tests.

Earlier this week Coe, who succeeded Diack in August, said “rogue elements” may have infiltrated the IAAF. But Rooney has questioned how much Coe knew.

“It is pretty disrespectful to believe the vice-president did not know what was going on within the IAAF,” Rooney told the BBC. “That is his job and if he believes he did not know what was going on he has not been doing his job properly.

“Lord Coe is an icon for British athletes and has inspired generations but I felt he was a bit naive with his comments post the report.

“I want to believe he is the right person for the job. I feel he is strong and smart enough to be that person, it is just whether it is the best thing for athletics to have someone who was involved in the IAAF at that period still involved at the turnaround.”

Russia’s double Olympic pole-vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva has written an open letter pleading for the IAAF not to issue a blanket ban on the country’s athletes.Her letter, published on the Russian athletics federation’s website, says it is unfair to ban clean athletes such as herself.