Coe steps down from Nike role

Sebastian Coe has stepped down from his ambassadorial role with Nike in order to "focus unflinchingly" on his duties as the president of the IAAF.

A Nike ambassador for 38 years, Coe has come under increasing pressure to end the association - for which he reportedly receives £100,000 a year - since taking over as IAAF president in August.

Earlier this week, the two-time Olympic 1500m champion moved to deny claims he lobbied for the 2021 World Championships to be given to the city of Eugene - amid allegations of a conflict of interest.

Yet while he maintained there was no conflict of interest at an IAAF news conference in Monaco on Thursday, Coe did reveal he had opted to walk away from his duties with Nike, in addition to his position with sports marketing agency CSM. He will also stand down as chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA) following the 2016 Games in Rio.

"I made a judgement that the issues that I've been dealing with in the last few weeks - the reform of the organisation [the IAAF, in the wake of a corruption scandal], the challenges faced by the organisation across two or three fronts - need an unflinching focus and the noises off are frankly a distraction, I concede that," said Coe.

"I felt it was extremely important to make sure I was in a position at all times to deal with that.

"I sought the view of the [IAAF] ethics committee - they were very clear that it would have been possible to continue [as a Nike ambassador].

"I don't believe it was a conflict of interest. But it [my decision] was purely on the basis that I felt that I needed to be able to focus unflinchingly on the challenges ahead with my colleagues and particularly the executive teams here at our headquarters.

"It had become a distraction - there's no doubt about that.

"The current noise around it is not good for the IAAF and it is not good for Nike. It is clear perception and reality have become horribly mangled."

In the same news conference, IAAF athletes' commission chairperson Frankie Fredericks announced that Ashton Eaton and Genzebe Dibaba had been named as the organisation's Athletes of the Year for 2015.

Fredericks also confirmed the appointment of six new members of the athletes' commission - Fabiana Murer, Paula Radcliffe, Alina Talay, Michael Frater, Ezekiel Kemboi and Eaton - to serve between 2016 and 2019.

"Our commission is composed of a mixture of current and recently retired international athletes from the six continental areas," said Fredericks.

"Today's six new members will be a huge asset adding to the wide range of experience and knowledge already in the commission. We are working together with Sebastian Coe, united in our resolve to clean up athletics for the sake of the vast majority of clean athletes."