Athletics faces fresh doping crisis

Leaked IAAF test data shows over 800 athletes’ blood samples taken in last 11 years were “abnormal”

Kuala Lumpur, August 2

Endurance runners suspected of doping have been winning a third of Olympic and World Championship medals, two news organisations said on Sunday, after a leak of thousands of blood test results from 2001-2012 threw global athletics into chaos.

Britain’s The Sunday Times newspaper and Germany’s ARD/WDR broadcaster said they had obtained the secret data from the vaults of the global athletics governing body, the IAAF, supplied by a whistleblower disgusted by the extent of doping.

The news organisations showed the data to two experts, who concluded distance running was in the same state as cycling had been when Lance Armstrong won the seven Tour de France titles of which he has since been stripped.

“Never have I seen such an alarmingly abnormal set of blood values,” The Sunday Times quoted Australian doping expert Robin Parisotto, one of the two scientists, as saying. “So many athletes appear to have doped with impunity, and it is damning that the IAAF appears to have sat idly and let this happen.”

Parisotto is an inventor of the test used to detect the blood doping agent EPO.

The latest allegations could cast a shadow over the biennial World Championships in Beijing beginning Aug 22.

The IAAF did not immediately address the substance of the reports but said it was preparing a response. It noted the reports were based on confidential information obtained without permission. The World Anti-Doping Agency, a separate body set up in 1999 to coordinate doping investigations across global sport, said it was “very disturbed”.

The allegations “will, once again, shake the foundations of clean athletes worldwide,” WADA president Craig Reedie said at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Kuala Lumpur.

“These are wild allegations and we will check them out and have that done with the commission as quickly as possible,” Reedie said.

The IOC expressed confidence WADA would get to the bottom of the case.

The allegations concern techniques to improve the ability of blood to carry oxygen, which can give an advantage in endurance events like cycling or running over medium and long distances. The Sunday Times and ARD said they were given access to the results of over 12,000 tests of more than 5,000 athletes taken between 2001 and 2012.

Parisotto and another scientist, Michael Ashendon, concluded that more than 800 athletes had recorded one or more “abnormal” results, defined as a result that had less than one chance in 100 of being natural. Such athletes accounted for 146 medals at top events, including 55 golds, the Sunday Times said.

Russia accounted for by far the most, with 415 abnormal tests, followed distantly by Ukraine, Morocco, Spain, Kenya, Turkey and others.

While the news organisations did not name the athletes with suspicious tests, The Sunday Times listed some whose results were clean, including Britain’s Mo Farah, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and British heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill.

‘Zero tolerance’

The IAAF said in a statement the allegations its database of private and confidential medical data had been “obtained without consent.” It reserved the right “to take any follow up action necessary to protect the rights of the IAAF and its athletes”. Athletics officials spoke in general of the need to fight doping while avoiding direct comment. IAAF vice president Sergey Bubka said: “There will be zero tolerance, this is clear. The IAAF is a very strong leader in the fight against doping. We will not stop the fight. If we need to change rules and regulations we will do it.”

An independent WADA commission is already investigating previous allegations of doping that implicate Russia, the IAAF, athletes, coaches, trainers, doctors and other members of athletes’ entourages.

Reedie said initial findings had been expected by September, but the new allegations meant it could now take longer. He emphasised that “athletes are innocent until proven guilty”. — Reuters

Russia links new scandal to race for top post  

Moscow: Russia’s Sports Minister dismissed allegations that more than 400 Russian athletes were suspected of taking banned performance enhancing drugs, linking the media reports to upcoming elections for athletics’ ruling body. The tests showed more than 800 athletes had given blood samples that were “highly suggestive” of doping or were abnormal. Of those, 415 were Russian athletes, the Sunday Times said. “This scandal has nothing to do with Russia, it is about the global system of athletics,” Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said. “There are presidential elections in August, so just a common battle for power is taking place,” he said, referring to the contest for the top job at the IAAF. IAAF vice president Sergey Bubka is vying with Sebastian Coe to succeed Senegal’s Lamine Diack. “Russian  athletes are being checked for doping the same way as athletes from other countries are,” Mutko said. “Given that we are leaders in many disciplines, the checks are even more frequent. Everyone has issues with doping — Russia, America, and France.” — Reuters