Sebastian Coe on Israeli participation, gender in sport, Enhanced Games and his UAE role with Gems Education

Sebastian Coe is a double Olympic champion, a former UK Member of Parliament, sits in the House of Lords, and serves as president of World Athletics. He is also an increasingly influential voice in the UAE thanks to a new link up with Gems Education.

Coe made his name as an elite middle distance runner, winning 800m gold in Moscow in 1980, and defending the title four years later in Los Angeles. There were two silvers as well, in the 1,500m, and his era-defining rivalry with compatriot Steve Ovett elevated British athletics.

Those sporting achievements are sometimes easy to forget given his profile and longevity as a politician and a leading sports administrator.

Coe, 69, was recently appointed as a senior adviser to Gems, a role that will see him shape the educational network's sports programme. He says he will be “encouraging the students, particularly those who have an ambition to compete at an elite level, but also not to dissuade those who want to, or see sport in a slightly different way [and] want to use it as a way of mental well-being and physicality.”

While visiting Dubai, Coe spoke to The National about his new role, and also the burning governance issues he has been synonymous with throughout his career away from the track. That included the World Athletics response to the geopolitical crises in Ukraine and Palestine, the continuing search for workable policy on gender in sports, and the spectre of this summer's Enhanced Games in Las Vegas.

Russia ban remains but no plans to sanction Israel

One of Coe’s most forceful interventions as World Athletics president came in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian athletes were first banned by the IAAF (now World Athletics) in 2015 following allegations of state-sponsored doping, supported by the M