Sebastian Coe has been elected a vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

The double Olympic 1500m champion, who remains chairman of the London 2012 organising committee, was elected at a meeting of the IAAF Congress in Osaka.

Sergey Bubka of Ukraine, American Robert Hersh and Dahlan Al-Hamad from Qatar will also serve four-year terms as vice-presidents.

Lamine Diack was voted into a final four-year term as IAAF president.

Lord Coe dismissed concerns that taking the role would have a negative effect on his role organising the London Olympics.

"A lot of what I'm doing with the IAAF as an Olympic sport is very complementary to London," he told BBC Radio 5live.

"Organising committees of Olympic games face exactly the same challenge, and that is exciting young people and making what we're doing relevant to them.

"My responsibility is to speak on behalf of the whole of the sport globally.

"Of course, being British, I will always keep a careful and watching eye over the sport that has meant so much to me in my own country."

He added that the IAAF faced a big challenge as it tries to grow the sport around the world.

"We have a global challenge and there's no point in being naïve or coy about it," he said.

"We've got to excite young people into taking up track and field and being more involved in the sport.

"We've got to make sure the format of the sport and the way its presented is attractive to new audiences."

The vice-presidency is widely seen as a stepping stone to competing for the presidency when Diack retires in 2011.

Lord Coe is among the early favourites, but said: "Really, genuinely, it is not even a discussion point."

And referring to his fellow vice-presidents, the Briton added: "If you look, one of the biggest opportunities to broaden the sport is in Asia.

"That is a very important signal to have Dahlan at the table.

"The nice thing about the four that got elected is that we all come with complementary and quite different skills."

The World Championships begin in Osaka on Saturday.