TILFORD man Lord Sebastian Coe has been elected president of athletics’ governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).?The former Olympic 1500m champion, who married his wife Carole Annett in All Saints Church, Tilford in 2011 and lives in Charles Hill, polled 115 votes in Tuesday’s election in Beijing to Ukrainian ex-pole vaulter Sergey Bubka’s 92.

Lord Coe, chairman of the London 2012 organising committee and a life peer in the House of Lords, succeeds the IAAF’s president for the past 16 years, 82 year old Senegalese Lamine Diack.

The 1980 and 1984 Olympic gold medallist’s initial term will be for four years and he did not waste time in announcing a crack down on doping in his acceptance speech, promising the creation of an independent anti-doping panel to address the issue within his first 100 days in office.

Lord Coe, 58, added the win was the "second biggest and momentous” occasion of his life after the birth of his children.

"Delighted and humbled by the confidence shown in me by the IAAF family - thank you, now the hard work begins," he said shortly after the result.

The election of the sport’s 214 federations came just days before the 2015 World Championships was due to get under way in Beijing.