Coe bid held up by votes fiasco

Sebastian Coe was forced to wait today to discover whether he had won a leading position in the world governing body of athletics after a voting fiasco.

The double Olympic 1,500metres champion thought he had won a place on the ruling council of the International Association of Athletics Federations at the IAAF's congress in Paris.

But less than half an hour after the vote, the result was cancelled because of mix-ups with the electronic voting system which led to 79 of the 200 delegates failing to register a valid vote.

Delegates then had a row over how they should re-run the vote.

Given that tactical voting could come into play in a repeat of the vote because delegates were aware of the results, Coe was not guaranteed one of the 13 council spots in the re-run.

The election is important as Britain needs influence in world athletics at a time when London is bidding for the 2012 Olympics.