Sergey Bubka has launched his manifesto for election to the International Association of Athletics Federations presidency, pledging to provide the most thorough athletics review ever.
Six-time world champion pole vaulter Bubka, 51, will run against Sebastian Coe to succeed Lamine Diack in August.
The Ukrainian has proposed holding more athletics events in public spaces.
"We have an opportunity to go closer to the public. This can be on squares, in streets, in shopping malls," he said.
"I remember competing in these types of competitions when I was an athlete and they are very attractive."
The proposed examination of "every significant element of our sport" would focus mainly on restructuring the global events calendar and the federations' rules and by-laws.
Bubka also said that he was pleased with how the World Anti-Doping Agency had approached claims of widespread drug use among Russian athletes.
But he added: "Cheaters will be punished. And we must protect and highlight clean athletes. We need to study how we can legally strengthen sanctions - it will need a very deep study."
Other aspects of Bubka's manifesto include:
- using more technology, such as biometric chips and cameras
- a focus on youth and creating more school-level competitions
- creating a position of IAAF chief executive officer to help share the workload of the general secretary
- promoting mixed gender competitions
Lord Coe, 58, who oversaw London's hosting of the 2012 Olympics, has also made the athletics calendar, youth engagement, anti-doping and public competitions central to his bid for the presidency.