By Andrew Warshaw
September 21 – Sebastian Coe, the face of this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games as the London 2012 chairman, has been signed up as one of the speakers for the inaugural Doha Goals forum on December 10-12, Qatar’s latest initiative to put itself on the sporting map.
Coe (pictured top), who will speak on sport’s role as an agent of social change, joins a list of sporting greats including Carl Lewis, Oscar Pistorius – the first double amputee sprinter to compete in an Olympics who set London 2012 alight – Rugby World Cup-winning captain Francois Pienaar and multiple Olympic swimming champion Mark Spitz.
Doha Goals, part of Qatar’s burgeoning nation-building exercise, was set up during London 2012 under the patronage of Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
The December forum brings together a community of policymakers and Government officials, heads of business, athletes, NGOs and students to build a roadmap for addressing social challenges through sport.
Sheikh Faisal Al Thani, executive director of Doha Goals, said: “We are delighted Lord Coe will be sharing some of his insight in Doha.
“His background is both in politics and sport which makes him very relevant with the issues we will address, and the initiatives we hope to create together as a community.”
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