A shake-up for sport? Lord Seb Coe is ruling nothing out if he takes over Olympics

ITV News Sports Editor Steve Scott speaks to Lord Sebastian Coe as he unveils his election manifesto for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidency

Lord Sebastian Coe is promising a radical Olympics shake-up if he’s elected the most powerful man in the sporting world.

Launching his election manifesto to take over from International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, Coe told us there is currently “too much power in the hands of too few people”, and to stay relevant to a younger, digitally driven generation, reform is vital.

According to Coe, that means, unlike now, a president’s office that is “accessible and open to new ideas.”

Ideas, he said, that will make Olympic sport “more exciting and more commercially viable for sponsors and broadcasters.”

Coe believes there is expertise sitting within the Olympic movement that hasn’t been unlocked, telling us: “I worry that we define ourselves in a lot of ways but we haven't absolutely put sport first and within that model the athletes in pole position.

"I don’t think we’re getting the best out of our membership."

So what does his vision look like – traditional indoor summer sports being moved to the Winter Olympics for example?

“I'm not saying yes, I'm not saying no. I've had quite a few people venturing that thought with me when I've had the hundreds of conversations I've had in the last six months.

"But not everything that appears in the fashion show ends up in the retail store. But we should be open to fresh thinking if we are committed to having a movement that continues to grow and flourishes and is meaningful to young people.”

Coe said he is "certainly not closing the door an Olympic games Saudi Arabia"

How about an Olympic Games in Saudi Arabia then?

The Kingdom has already secured a football World Cup despite Western misgivings about its human rights record. Coe believes Saudi would be a good host, even if that meant a traditional summer Olympics being staged during the winter months.

“We had a World Championships in Qatar that were two or three months later than they would normally be. That's force majeure. And I think if you are dealing with those issues, then be innovative and creative and open the door to all sorts of thoughts.”

But Saudi has been accused of sportswashing to improve its international image; should the Olympics allow itself to be used in that way?

Coe is unequivocal: "I don't think they [Saudi Arabia] can be accused of not doing it for the right motives, and it's really important, because I've witnessed the changes, and I've seen the changes that sport has actually created in countries like Saudi Arabia.

"So I'm certainly not closing the door on the thought that sport can shine a spotlight on many of these issues. It does it better than any other sector, and it actually does it unflinchingly.

“I've had more uncompromising conversations with world leaders around their desire to stage our events, and yes, they have focused on human rights, they have focused on sustainable building. They have focused on labour conditions when stadiums are being built, particularly in hot climates.”

Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.

Coe is adamant that sport is the most powerful vehicle for social change.

“I don't think in my lifetime, I've ever witnessed a sport going into a society where, in one way or another, it hasn't flicked the political or the social dial in the right direction.

"Sport has that ability, and that's all I'm really saying, that the Olympic movement can play that role.”

One of the biggest and most divisive issues facing all sports at the moment is inclusion; specifically when it relates to transgender athletes or those with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD), like South Africa’s Caster Semenya, a double Olympic gold medalist and three times world champion.

Coe’s stance on the issue, as World Athletics President, is very clear, transgender athletes are barred, and those with DSD need to reduce testosterone levels to a certain level before they can compete in the women’s category.

“Gender cannot trump biology,” Coe said, and under his presidency he would advise all sports to follow his lead.

“I don't think it's a bad position, and it's a clear-cut position. When I was in Paris, I wasn't sitting there worrying that athletics was going to get into the same territory that boxing did.

"We (The IOC) should be the thought leadership organisation in global sport. I don't think I'm the only candidate that's going to be saying that, but I'm probably the only candidate that has the experience of having done that within an international federation.”

Coe said that the Olympic committee should be the "thought leadership organisation of global sport"

In total, seven candidates are vying for Thomas Bach’s seat, all men apart from Kirsty Coventry - the five times Olympian from Zimbabwe.

Coe is not the favourite to win this particular race, but it’s not the first time he’s been the underdog and on most of those occasions he’s come out on top.

This particular race reminds him of when London was expected to lose out to Paris or Madrid to stage the 2012 Games, and we all know what happened then.

List of candidates and full manifestos: https://olympics.com/ioc/organisation/ioc-president-election

Have you heard The Trapped? Listen as Daniel Hewitt exposes the UK's dirty secret.