Coe open to summer indoor sports in Winter Olympics

World Athletics chief Lord Coe says he would be open to the possibility of moving some indoor sports from the summer Olympics to the winter Games if he becomes the new president of the International Olympic Committee.

Britain's two-time Olympic 1500m champion published his manifesto, external on Thursday morning alongside those of the other six candidates in the running to succeed Thomas Bach next year.

"Innovation is critical, we have to be open to new ideas," he told BBC Sport.

Coe has vowed to shake up the IOC, claiming "too much power is in the hands of too few people".

Describing the election as "the dance I just couldn't sit out", Coe said: "The question I ask myself as a member is - 'what input do I and other members have?'

"And the reality of it is, there isn't enough. I'm not sure we're making the most of the extraordinary talent that sits alongside me. The IOC is not a broken organisation but it can be so much better and it needs change."

In his proposals, Coe reinforces previous pledges to boost youth sport, introduce "clear, science-based policies" to protect the female category amid continuing debate in sport over gender eligibility rules, and to listen to athletes.

He also says that: "To sustain the Games we must grow - not just financially but also in reach and relevance. Commercial partners and broadcasters want modernisation."

Speaking at the Olympic Park in Stratford, Coe - who chaired the organising committee of London 2012 - added: "Climate change is going to fundamentally make us have to think about the global calendar, where we take our events and the times of the year that we take our events.

"And some people have even suggested that we might want to look at the balance between the winter and summer Games.

"You have venues where some sports are indoors. You could in theory take them into another time of the year, maybe a winter Games.

"So these are all the things that I would encourage debate to take place on, because only when we have that debate can we discard the things that may not work.

"Only in collaboration with the winter sports and all those organisations out there. We have the Association of National Olympic Committees. We have the summer federations that are represented, and some of that has to be a collaborative approach. But I think we should always be open to new and fresh thinking."

Last year the IOC said research showed only 10 countries will be able to host snow sports by 2040 because of the impact of climate change, and accepted "a need to adapt the Olympic Winter Games".

There are currently four indoor sports at the Winter Olympics: speed skating, figure skating, curling, and ice hockey.

In a controversial move, World Athletics introduced prize money for gold medallists at Paris 2024 under Coe's leadership.

"Many of the things I've done at World Athletics have sparked a debate," he said.

"That's not something I shy away from. In a world that changes every five minutes, we have to be very open to analysis that doesn't always fit comfortably with how we see the world. And we should embrace that."

Coe faces competition from Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, France's David Lappartient, Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry, Japan's Morinari Watanabe, Swede Johan Eliasch and Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan for the IOC presidency.

Samaranch - whose late father was in charge of the IOC for 21 years until 2001 - says his core mission is to protect the universality of the Olympics.

He also says the IOC "has a fundamental duty to safeguard women's sport by adopting a policy to maintain unambiguous distinctions between men and women's categories".

He told BBC Sport the traditional summer Olympics may have to be held in the northern hemisphere winter in future, insisting: "We're going to have to be more flexible in scheduling the dates at which the Games can happen."

When asked if he would be open to the event being held in Saudi Arabia - which is hosting the men's World Cup in 2034 - the IOC vice-president said: "If I'm true to my claim for universality, we have to be universal also in the regions of the world that can organise the Games.

"Even if [we] go into the winter, we cannot say to more than one billion people in parts of the world that are too warm to hold the Games during the summer 'sorry, you're out'. We cannot. Honestly, I think it's not fair.

"Since the climate is not going to adapt itself to our calendars, we will have to adapt our calendar to the weather."

Both members of the IOC executive board, Samaranch and Prince Feisal have promised to empower members and pledged to raise the retirement age for them from 70 to 75 years.

Japanese candidate Watanabe, who is president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), has proposed staging the Olympics across five cities from five continents at the same time.

The IOC has had no female president and just nine men leading it in its 130-year history.