Sebastian Coe was elected president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Wednesday after beating Ukraine's Sergey Bubka by 115 votes to 92 in a ballot of the governing body's 50th Congress.

The Briton takes over as head of a sport battling a public relations crisis with the IAAF accused of failing in its duty to address doping amid allegations that blood doping was rife in athletics.

The former Olympic 1,500 metres champion will replace Senegalese Lamine Diack, who has run the body for the last 16 years, at the end of the Aug. 22-30 world championships in Beijing.

"For most of us in this room, we would conclude the birth of our children are the biggest moments in our lives," said Coe, whose initial term will be for four years.

"I have to say given the opportunity to work with all of you in the future of our sport, is probably the second biggest and momentous occasion in my life."

Former Olympic pole vault champion Bubka congratulated Coe on his victory and was later elected one of four IAAF vice presidents. "I know athletics will grow and become stronger," Bubka said.

"I am a happy man because I love athletics. I will continue to serve athletics with passion. This is my life."

Outgoing president Diack said he was delighted to finally have a successor and in particular one who had dedicated his life to the sport. "The white-haired generation has done what it could, and now over to the black-haired generation," the 82-year-old said.

Coe has aggressively defended the IAAF's record on doping over the last three weeks, saying the organisation had "led the way" on out-of-competition testing and laboratories, and introduced blood passports in 2009 to help weed out the cheats.

Coe has previously said that under his leadership the sport would move towards setting up its own anti-doping agency.

In speeches to delegates before and after Wednesday's vote, the former politician did not mention doping once, saying only "trust and integrity" were the twin pillars of the sport.

He promised delegates he would empower federations to deliver the kind of sport they wanted, not dictate from its centre.

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