Sir Steve Redgrave "surprised" Seb Coe wants to become new BOA leader

Sir Steve Redgrave has admitted he is "surprised" that Seb Coe wants to become the new leader of the British Olympic Association.

Lord Coe is in position to be selected next month as the BOA's new chairman following the withdrawal of Richard Leman, his sole rival for the role.

Having delivered a brilliant Olympics as chairman of the organising committee LOCOG, Coe may become frustrated at the BOA's lack of power when it comes to making big decisions, according to Redgrave.

Redgrave, the five-time Olympic gold medallist, said: "I was surprised that Seb has gone for the chairmanship of the BOA, but potentially he can do fantastic job. He has done a fantastic job of chairing up LOCOG and the Games put on were spectacular.

"I know there were a lot of battles between LOCOG and the BOA on the way to delivery (of the Games).

"It will be exciting times to see how the BOA moves forward under his chairmanship, but the BOA is more of a guiding group than a group with power. He is still chairman of LOCOG until next year, but there was a sense of power within that position with the delivery of the Games.

"The BOA is a great organisation, but they are not the financial funder of sports, so when it comes down to who gets what financial support from Sport UK and Sport England on the funding side the sports tend to look at where their money is coming from and not at the power that is selecting the Olympic team at the end of it."

Tainted

Meanwhile, Redgrave believes Team Sky rider Bradley Wiggins is the outstanding candidate for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

"I was surprised that Seb has gone for the chairmanship of the BOA, but potentially he can do fantastic job. "
Sir Steve Redgrave

The cyclist followed up his historic Tour de France success with time trial gold at the London 2012 Games; however Redgrave is concerned that his achievements could be tainted by the drug allegations surrounding Lance Armstrong.

Redgrave added: "Obviously there is a slight taint to cycling at the moment because of Lance Armstrong so there may be a bit of lashback, but I think Bradley is a clean athlete.

"We have had tennis players who have won Grand Slams. We have never had anybody who has won the Tour de France."

The legendary rower also explained that three Paralympians, swimmer Ellie Simmonds, wheelchair athlete David Weir and cycling's Sarah Storey would make his shortlist.