Lord Coe saddened by scepticism of Mo Farah achievements
Last Updated: 30/08/15 9:32pm
Lord Coe says he is saddened that Mo Farah's "spectacular" 'triple double' would be greeted by some with scepticism.
Farah racked up his seventh straight global title when he added the 5,000m crown to his 10,000m triumph at the World Championships in Beijing.
The Briton had already won over both distances at the London Olympics in 2012 and the World Championships in Moscow the following year.
His latest successes at the Bird's Nest stadium, though, came at the end of a tumultuous year in which he was caught up in the doping allegations surrounding his coach Alberto Salazar.
Salazar has denied all the claims against him, while Farah was accused of no wrongdoing.
Coe, the incoming IAAF president, said it was sadly predictable that his achievements would raise eyebrows, especially given the state of the sport at the moment. The build-up to the championships was dominated by allegations of widespread doping.
"Mo is a wonderful athlete," he said. "I have watched his progress from the junior ranks, I've stood at the side of tracks when he's been competing and I've awarded him medals when he was a junior athlete.
"This is part of the challenge we have. I remember breaking the world mile record in 1981 and I was dubbed by most people an overnight sensation.
"I had to remind them it had taken me 10 years to get to that position since joining my first athletics club.
"We have to be careful here when we start making assumptions about quality and unpredictable performances.
"Often in the largest part it is down to innate ability, hard work, focus and probably somewhere in the locker about 10 years of road mileage and thousands of tons of steel in the gym and people who have given up a large part of their lives to help you.
"It is sadly slightly the territory we have inherited. I think one of my responsibilities is to move the sport off that territory. We are more than a discussion about test tubes, blood and urine."
Former Olympic medallist Brendan Foster described Farah as Britain's "greatest sportsman".
Coe said: "Mo's progress through the ranks has been spectacular and that's a good thing.
"If you look at the medals he has won in major championships and the fact this is now the second time (at a World Championships) that he has successfully doubled up at 5,000m and 10,000m, two particularly arduous events, you would be hard pressed to say that he wasn't the most successful distance runner in terms of medals.
"But there are other things that you need to throw into the balance – world records, times, speeds, all those sorts of things.
"He is a wonderful athlete, I'll leave the greatest-ever tag to others. If I conceded that I would lose a lifelong friendship with Daley Thompson."
