Seb Coe supported Donald Trump over his decision on transgender athletes weeks before entering the vote to become the new IOC president.
Votes to elect a successor to incumbent Thomas Bach were held on Thursday, with Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe becoming the first woman to be successfully elected to the role.
Coe was one of six nominees to be defeated, receiving eight votes - well short of the 49 votes required as a majority - in the first and only round.
The current president of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) received support from high-profile figures from both inside and outside of sport, including sprinting legend Usain Bolt, two-time Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson and former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
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Sections of his support had arisen from his views on whether transgender athletes should compete in women's competitions, which has been the subject of heated debates.
Coe stated his support for US President Trump after the latter signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from being able to compete in women's sports.
Speaking to Piers Morgan on his 'Piers Morgan Uncensored' show, the 68-year-old said: "I welcome the commitment to maintaining the integrity of women's sport. For me, this is absolutely about the integrity of the competition.
"I am, by nature, a social liberal. I really do not choose, nor do I have any predisposition, to tell people how to live their lives. But when it comes to the biology of sport, it is very, very clear cut."
Coe would subsequently lose out in his attempts to become IOC president to Coventry, who now takes up the most high-profile political job in sport.
As well as being the first woman to be successfully appointed to the role, she is also the first African to do so, and also the youngest at 41 years of age.
She picked up the majority of 49 votes needed in the first round, despite expectations that a result would take much longer to be reached.
Her nearest rival, the current IOC vice-president Jose Antonio Samaranch, received 28 votes.
Speaking after his defeat, four-time Olympic medallist Coe told reporters: "The obvious reaction is, I'm absolutely delighted for Kirsty.
"We've got an athlete at the head of the organisation, that's a good thing. We chatted about it only a couple of weeks ago and agreed that would be the preferred outcome. And that's what happened.
"I congratulate her, and she's got a huge job but she will have the confidence of the athletes, and that's very important.
"I think what is pretty clear is that the athletes, and the women members in particular, supported her very strongly in the first round. Those things happen in elections."
Coventry, meanwhile, said in her acceptance speech: "I will make all of you very, very proud and, hopefully, extremely confident in the decision you have taken. Now, we have got some work together."
Topics: Olympics, Athletics, United States
Ryan Smart