Lord Coe 'angry' at the scale of Russian doping during London 2012 Olympics
Lord Sebastian Coe has told ITV News he is “angry” that the London 2012 Olympics were the most corrupted ever due to Russian doping.
The IAAF President said: "The scale of duplicity was extraordinary and the lengths that one single system has gone to subvert the dream and ambitions of clean athletes is equally shocking."
All Russian anti-doping samples from the 2012 Games will be retested by the The International Olympic Committee (IOC), following a damning report that pointed to a "unprecedented" national conspiracy to help some 1,000 athletes.
Among the athletes implicated in the scandal were five Russian medalists from London 2012 and a total of 78 of the country's competitors at the Games.
When asked if, as chairman of the games, it has spoiled his memories, Lord Coe said: "I felt angry, because they're athletes, and I know what that feels like.
"Anybody that makes it in to an Olympic stadium has probably devoted over half their life to doing that and the thought that with such callous and malintent that that dream could just be snatched away is just horrendous and that's why I'm angry and I'm always angry when clean athletes have their opportunities stripped from them."
Coe said athletes must not let the scandal over shadow their achievements at the games, saying it does not devalue their medals in the eyes of the public.
The Russian federation are currently suspended from international athletics competitions with the IAAF set to make a decision in the new year about whether they will compete at the World Athletics Championships in London next year.
On their potential return to competition Coe said:
"We've got to know that Russian athletes are coming out of a clean, untainted system and we have to know that when they do go back to international competition we're not jeapardising the ambitions of those clean athletes."
Speaking on a personal level about seeing Russian athletes return to the same stadium they competed at in 2012 Coe said : "I would be uncomfortable if I thought athletes from anywhere were competing in London in what is clearly a tainted system".
He refused to comment on the lack of repercussions Russia has felt by other sporting authorities, including the IOC, but did say Fifa should look at their options when it comes to the 2018 World Cup being held in the country.