SEBASTIAN COE boldly said yesterday that he is the right man to fix athletics, as a selection of MPs grilled him on the current state of the sport.

International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president Coe was quizzed for almost three hours in front of the culture, media and sport select committee investigating blood doping in athletics following allegations made by the Sunday Times in August.

And when asked by Ian Lucas MP why, as an “insider” of the IAAF and Fifa — “organisations which have been bedevilled by corruption” — why Coe believes he should be leading athletics, he replied: “Because I have the experience to do that. I have the support of the sport to do that.”

Coe was questioned on a range of topics, from his recently terminated deal with Nike to his comments on the media in the wake of the doping scandal.

But he waffled when asked by Paul Farrelly MP whether or not he could prove that the Qatar 2019 bid is clean.

When Farrelly asked if he woud investigate, he couldn’t give a straight answer to which Farrelly said: “I’ll take that as a No.”

Coe did say he regretted the language used but not the sentiment when describing investigations into suspicious blood results as “a declaration of war on our sport.”

He said: “I described the use of selected data against clean athletes in exactly those terms. I don’t step back from that.

“I stick by the sentiments. I probably might have chosen different language.

“It probably expressed my frustration and, yes, anger at the time.

“I’m sorry this has mutated into an attack on the media.”

He insisted the IAAF was “not a corrupt organisation” and is eagerly awaiting the next independent World Anti-Doping Agency report.

“People tend to forget this is not simply about athletics. But I will wait with interest the second report,” Coe added.

When the subject of his relationship with Nike, he again denied a conflict of interest — a charge previously levelled by committee member Damian Collins, among others.

Coe last week ended his 38-year ambassadorial role with the sportswear giant.

Coe said: “I made the judgement, given the level of noise around the relationship, that this had become a monstrous distraction, that reality and perception had become horribly entangled and I didn’t want anything to distract from the changes I’m making.”

The US city of Eugene, Oregon, which is home to Nike, has been awarded the 2021 IAAF World Championships, without a bidding process, after missing out on the 2019 event.