By any stretch of the imagination, Lord Sebastian Coe has a very tough task ahead of him.

Shortly after his election as president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in August last year, Lord Coe has been busy trying to pull the governing body for world athletics out of a doping scandal hole which has resulted in his predecessor, Mr Lamine Diack, being prosecuted.

Lord Coe, we are told, has been travelling the globe, notably in Asia, trying to shore up support for the IAAF with the intention of easing the concerns of corporate backers who are wary of being tied to a tainted organisation.

Amidst all that effort comes the news on Wednesday that Nestle, the world’s largest food company, has decided to terminate its sponsorship of the IAAF Kids’ Athletics programme.

The scale and reach of the programme are indeed huge, going by an IAAF statement — 15 million children aged seven to 12 years in 76 countries participating in activities that promote a healthy, active lifestyle.

This year, the plan was for the programme to be implemented in a further 15 countries; 360 lecturers and 8,640 physical education teachers would be trained and three million children would have been impacted by the end of the programme, reported to be worth US$1 million annually.

But given the corruption and doping scandals surrounding athletics in recent months, Nestle has expressed concern that its reputation could be damaged by its association with the IAAF.

Just recently we read of German sportswear giant Adidas severing what was reported to be a deal worth tens of millions of dollars with the IAAF and which should have run until 2019.

Lord Coe obviously accepts the weight of the task ahead of him. In fact, he made that very clear during a visit to Japan on Monday.

“…the journey back to trust is one of an uncertain length, but we have to make changes,” he was reported as saying, and promised to push agreed reforms.

Lord Coe’s acknowledgement of the problem besetting world athletics is a good starting point on the road to recovery. So too is his commitment to making changes that are necessary to repair the image of not only the IAAF, but the sport in general.

His attitude serves as a perfect example for Jamaican politicians to emulate, especially during the current election campaign. For it is at these times that they most seem to become afflicted by a desire to say things that are unrealistic or give people a false sense of hope.

In all of this, the electorate must always bear in mind that politicians campaign on promise, but govern in reality.