Pole vaulting legend Sergey Bubka's main policy in his manifesto to be the next president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is to get young people around the world enthused into taking up sport.
The 49-year-old Ukrainian -- one of six men vying to replace incumbent Jacques Rogge when he steps down on September 10 -- quoted a line by former South African president Nelson Mandela to support his case.
"Nelson Mandela, a great man, said 'Sport has the power to change lives'," said Bubka, on the opening day of the world athletics championships in Moscow of which he is the head of the organising committee.
Bubka, a six-time outdoor world champion and holder still of both the outdoor and indoor world records, is passionate about luring the young away from what he sees as the dangers lurking both inside and outside the family home.
"This has been a passion of mine for a long time. I formed the Sergey Bubka Sports Club in 1990 in Ukraine," he said.
"Since then members from the club have won an Olympic medal and a world championship medal.
"The idea was that I wanted to help youngsters and not have them left on the streets where they could fall prey to bad people and become addicted to drugs, alcohol or cigarettes."
Bubka, who broke the outdoor world record on 35 occasions and whose mark of 6.14 metres has stood since 1994, has now moved on from that to trying to motivate youngsters into sport.
"We must not lose a young generation, we must educate them through sports and exercise instead of playing on computers," he said.
