Sports Briefs
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SEBASTIAN Coe, vice-president of the International Associations of Athletics Federations, IAFF, is very unhappy about allegations of widespread doping among athletes. Coe, an Olympic gold medallist in long distance running, described the allegations as a “declaration of war.” Coe, popularly known as Seb Coe or Lord Coe, therefore, wants athletes to “come out fighting” to protect the sport’s reputation. The IAAF vice-president told the BBC in an interview: “The fight-back has to start here. It is a declaration of war on my sport. There is nothing in our history of competence and integrity in drug testing that warrants this kind of attack.”
Speaking to the BBC radio on Wednesday, August 5, Coe backed the IAAF’s stance, saying he and the governing body were angered by accusations that they had done nothing to tackle doping.
He cited the introduction of the Athlete Biological Passport programme in 2009 as one of the ways the IAAF has been at the forefront of attempts to eradicate doping in sport.
The Sunday Times of London and ARD/WDR, German broadcaster, had reported an “extraordinary extent of cheating” from the examined leaked data from the IAAF database of results of 12,000 blood tests between 2001 and 2012.
The reports by the British and German media outlets said that more than 800 athletes – and a third of all medallists in endurance events at recent Olympics and World Championships – had suspicious blood-test results and that they were not followed up by the IAAF.
To review the data, The Sunday Times and ARD/WDR used Robin Parisotto and Michael Ashenden, two of the world’s “foremost anti-doping experts” scientists, who said that while “abnormal” results were not proof of doping, they were suspicious
In a statement released on Tuesday, August 4, the IAAF called the allegations “sensationalist and confusing.”
It said: “What the IAAF cannot accept under any circumstances from the ARD/Sunday Times, or the scientists whom they have retained, is an accusation that it has breached its primary duty to act in the best interests of the sport of athletics.”
The IAAF called the allegations “guesswork” and said it “categorically refutes all allegations”, and specifically rejected the claim that it “failed in its duty to pursue an effective blood-testing programme at all times”.
— Aug 17, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT
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