Former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe has ruled himself out of the running as the Conservative's candidate for London Mayor.

Lord Coe, ex-Tory leader William Hague's chief-of-staff, had been tipped to announce his intention to enter the race.

He had been seen as a challenger to Tory former transport minister Steve Norris, who is expected to make a second effort to become mayor, having been beaten into second place by Ken Livingstone at the first election.

I have absolutely no intention of putting my name forward

Lord Coe

But Lord Coe, who lost his Cornish parliamentary seat in 1997, stressed that becoming London mayor was not on his agenda.

He told the Times newspaper: "I am flattered by the speculation linking me with the Tory nomination.

"But I have absolutely no intention of putting my name forward.

"I have no aspirations in that direction, either to be the candidate or the king-maker."

Interesting future

Instead, Lord Coe is hoping to gain a place on the International Amateur Athletics Federation.

That could be a stepping stone for his reported ambition to become a member of the International Olympic Committee.

"I have one election to fight next year. It's for the IAAF. Who knows what the rest of the future holds," he said.

IAAF is the only election he will fight, says Coe

Mr Norris was beaten by the now jailed millionaire author Jeffrey Archer to become the Tories' mayoral candidate in 1999.

When Archer was forced to resign after the tabloid revelation that he had asked a friend to lie for him prior to a libel case, Mr Norris was given another chance to become the Tory candidate.

Disputes

Many assumed the nomination would automatically go to Norris, whose previous role as minister for transport in London appeared to make him an obvious choice.

Instead, the party decided to restage the contest and Mr Norris had to reapply, only to be almost blocked from the party's shortlist over concerns surrounding his colourful private life.

Second time lucky for Norris?

Mr Norris finally became the party's candidate in January 2000.

As the election winner, Ken Livingstone appointed Mr Norris on to the organisation in charge of the city's public transport, but he was later sacked following disputes between the two men.

Iain Duncan Smith, as party leader, is unlikely to throw his weight behind the nomination of a particular mayoral candidate.

A spokeswoman for Conservative Central Office said: "The nominations haven't opened officially. The process hasn't started."