Nowun Till wonders about Sebastian Coe

What exactly is it that Sebastian Coe has, that makes him the right person to be the chair of the London organising committee for the London 2012 Olympics.

He won Olympic gold, so was a good athlete - ok, but is that relevant?

He is a politician - Not a good thing

He is a peer - Not a good thing

In 2006 he was appointed to the board of Bio-Synergy. Relevant?

Well Sebastian Coe likes to put himself forward as the epitome of banishing drugs in sport. Strangely enough Bio Synergy sell a controversial performance-enhancing substance banned in some countries. Creatine is found naturally in the body and in foods such as meat and fish which means it would be difficult to include on the list of prohibited substances. But is banned in France as a supplement, it is used by some British athletes as a legal alternative to anabolic steroids.

Medical experts have raised concerns about creatines long-term effects: It has been linked to cancer and kidney damage and side-effects are said to include muscle cramps, vomiting and dehydration.

FIFA, world football's governing body (of which he has held the position of Chair ofthe ethics committee), issued a warning to players using creatine, saying there were risks it could be contaminated with traces of banned substances.

Russell Langley, of UK Sport, the agency responsible for implementing anti-doping policy in the UK, said its advice to athletes was not to take any supplements because of the risks.

Sebastian Coe had this to say ... "This has nothing to do with my involvement with London 2012."

Complete Leisure Group - established shortly after London won the bid in 2005 to host the Olympics, with Lord Coe as the majority shareholder and main asset. - relevant?

CLG consists of Sebastian Coe Ltd - through which Lord Coe is paid for his appearances, media work and consultancies - the Sport magazine publisher, and sports drinks firm Biosynergy Ltd.

In August of 2007 In an email sent on 20 August, one of the company's directors, Robin Miller, wrote to Lord Coe and another director, Peter Abbey, calling for "urgent" action because he was being threatened with legal action after CLG failed to file annual accounts as required by company law.

CLG's accountant, Rakesh Patel of the Adler Shine ... "any auditor, us included, would not be able to give a clean audit report and would need to qualify (the accounts)... as the group (CLG) would not be able to demonstrate that it had sufficient cash resources to pay their debts".


He also added that Adler Shine will do no further work until CLG has settled the fees it owes the firm, and asks for the current year's auditing fee in advance.

CLG raised £1 million in investment with the help of Peter Abbey, In an exchange of emails with Craig Inglis, an investor from the Liberty Hill Group Abbey said "I am not hiding anything...The money, along with another 400,000, was pissed away ... and if you want to come in and see me, I will tell you chapter and verse... I am not happy having this in writing for obvious reasons...this is about the worst situation I have had to deal with and we are trying to solve it quietly. DO NOT circulate this PLEASE!!!"

Sebastian Coe also strenuously denies any link between his Olympics role and his earnings of at least £200,000 from speeches, product endorsements, and consultancy funnelled through CLG. However his PA Susie Black, who is contracted to be employed full-time by London 2012 and is paid as such out of Olympic funds. A spokeswoman for Sebastian Coe commented..' Ms Black also sometimes "printed things out" for CLG on London 2012 office printers and may have been involved in scheduling Lord Coe's private speaking events.

"Lord Coe has one diary. If it was a CLG meeting she might make (the appointment)" '

I am not too sure any of this adds much credibility to someone responsible for holding the purse strings to £multi-billion of anyone's money.

So what does make Sebastian Coe the best person for the job?

His drive? His commitment? His education? His network? Or something else...

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