WHOEVER wins the presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations today will have the future of the sport in his hands.

Recurrent doping allegations create the perception of a sport on the cusp of a crisis, despite a combative challenge by the world body. It is no coincidence that a central plank of both presidential candidates, Sebastian Coe and Sergey Bubka, is war on illegal performance enhancing drugs – a declaration of which came months before recent allegations, many of them little more than recycling of old news. However, there is no disguising the damage done by a host of Olympic and World medals needing redistributed – something which has emerged from the IAAF's own biological passport and re-testing programme.

These columns have long argued for stiffer penalties – life bans, not four years, for serious offences – and exclusion from major championships of all countries which are confirmed serial offenders. Currently that would include Russia, India, Morocco, and Turkey.

Life bans are essential because of evidence that illegal drugs confer benefit years after cheats have ceased taking the drugs. American sprinter Justin Gatlin, oldest man to head the world rankings, and Turkey's Asli Cakir-Alptekin are pertinent examples.

Anything which allows such cheats to continue is a betrayal of innocent athletes whose dreams – and financial support – are hostage.

The 2012 Olympic 1500m champion, Cakir-Alptekin, was confirmed this week as being suspended for eight years. The Turkish governing body cleared her, but the IAAF pursued her at the Court of Arbitration for Sport who imposed the ban. She was unable to explain blood manipulation which was accompanied by a nine-second improvement in her 1500m time between 2011 and 2012. She had already served a two-year suspension for using anabolic steroids when she finished sixth in the 2004 World Junior Championships.

The former Olympic champions, Coe and Bubka, go head to head at the IAAF Council in Beijing today, with a straight majority in an electronic ballot of the 214 member federations (each has one vote) to determine a replacement for 82-year-old Lamine Diack. The Senegalese, a former long jumper, this week described doping as "a scourge" and warned that "sport is dead" if fans cannot believe what they see.

If elected, Coe pledges increased anti-doping resources, and an independent agency to deal with violations, with quicker resolution. He also aims to establish a new IAAF ethics department.

Bubka's manifesto included an endorsement of the World Anti-Doping Agency's approach to allegations of widespread drug use among Russian athletes. He promises a wide-ranging review of the sport, and says cheats must be punished: "We need to study how we can legally strengthen sanctions - it will need a very deep study."

However, despite stricter WADA rules, many believe the global agency does not go far enough. The new IAAF president may find his hands tied by having to comply with WADA's code. It does not permit life bans, despite the evidence of prolonged benefit, even if now "clean".

Former Olympic 100m champion Gatlin, twice banned by the IAAF, leads the world 100 and 200m rankings and could depose Usain Bolt.

The 58-year-old Coe is chairman of the British Olympic Association and chaired the London 2012 organising committee. He was Olympic 1500m champion in 1980 and '84, and set 12 world records in five events, but may need all his mastery of the tight finish today.

While there is no suggestion that his presidential rival is personally implicated, rumours of back-handers being offered for votes are circulating. We attempted to put these to Coe's adviser and public relations guru, Mike Lee, yesterday but his phone was not accepting calls and he did not respond to an email.

Coe's manifesto, entitled Growing Athletics in a New Age, acknowledges "an increasingly uncertain future" if the sport fails to manage change. While the rhetoric about the need to counter doping is timely and appropriate, perhaps more pertinent is the financial deal he has offered each of the 214 member federations if he wins.

He has promised an "Olympic athletics dividend" worth a minimum $100,000 per country from funds received from the IOC. This would begin next January, doubling the amount available to each federation over four years. Other key policies include reform of the athletics calendar, sports presentation and communications strategy, and improvement in commercial support to federations and greater focus on youth.

Coe has worked his global constituency, promoting his bid, but Bubka, who won seven world titles, is confident and clearly believes he has significant support. Coe will not underestimate a man astute enough to have set 35 pole vault world records, nudging lucratively upwards, one centimetre at a time.

If Bubka has a supporter in boxer Vitali Klitschko, Coe also has a heavyweight in his corner, in Mike Lee. He was director of communications for London’s Olympic bid, and other successful campaigns in which he has been involved include the Rio 2016 Summer Games, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympics. Clients also include Glasgow 2014 and Eventscotland.

Lee advised Brian Cookson on ousting Pat McQuaid as International Cycling Union president, and is advising Scotland's Louise Martin on her campaign to unseat Tunku Imran as president of the Commonwealth Games Federation. Perhaps not coincidentally, her financial inducement strategy is similar to Coe's. She promises "a new era of leadership in order to deliver enhanced revenues to all 71 Commonwealth Games Associations".