WADA with your coffee from Paris

Apparently taking the lesson that you can't beat someone with no one, the European governmental representatives to WADA have found a candidate, according to this story filed late yesterday in Le Monde:

Guy Drut last minute candidate for WADA President

France's Guy Drut indicated Friday that he had agreed to be the "compromise candidate" for the presidency of the World Antidoping Agency (WADA) in the election scheduled for Saturday, at the conclusion of the WADA conference in Madrid. "I was the object of several overtures, and I declared myself available," the former Minister of Sport in the [Alain] Juppé government indicated. He expects to be officially presented by the member governments of the agency. The governmental representatives account for half the votes in the election, equal in number to the sports organizations.

"Compromise candidate"--Guy Drut also envisages being president only on a short interim basiis. "I could serve until next May," he explained, the date of the future meeting of the Founding Council, which would then pick a new president. Mr. Drut made clear, however, that negotiations were "not yet concluded," confirming a story on the web site of the sports daily L'Equipe, which had announced his candidacy Friday morning.

The Europeans did not want Australian John Fahey

The candidacy of the 1976 Olympic champion in the 110m high hurdles (himself a member of the International Olympic Committee) would have the advantage of unblocking a situation that has been a problem since the opening of the world conference Wednesday. The other governmental candidate, Australian John Fahey, was the object, Thursday evening, of a hostile resolution by the European members of WADA. The Europeans asked that the election be postponed, and threatened, if it were not, to instruct their five representstives to the Founding Council to abstain.

If Guy Drut does run Saturday, despite the lateness of his candidacy--the deadline for nominations was September 20--he would be virtually assured of the support of the Olympic movement, the second component of WADA along with the governments, of which he has been a member since 1996. "I have the advantage of knowing both worlds," Guy Drut admitted.

Update [TBV]: Apparently M Drut is carrying some ethical baggage of his own that may not make him the best selection. See the comments.