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IAAF
vice-president Sebastian Coe said on Monday he believes athletics' reputation
is damaged by doping cases involving a small number of countries
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A documentary by German TV station ARD has exposed serial
doping in Russia. The expose is now being treated by the IAAF ruling body as a
highly serious issue for the sport with investigations into the TV allegations
being carried out by the IAAF ethics committee, anti-doping body WADA and the
IOC. The station has alleged evidence from an unnamed whistleblower in the IAAF
Medical Commission that the alleged cover-up of drugs cheats went far beyond
the boundaries of Russia.
The list compiled between 2006 and 2008 contains names from
Spain, Morocco, Kenya and Germany as well as the UK from a time when the only
chance to catch the cheats - pre blood passports - was through target testing.
And according to the veteran IAAF medical expert, athletics
ruling body was made aware of the blood values of the named athletes but did
not do follow up tests on them.
The IAAF claim they did target tests during those years in
question.
This comes after London 2012 Chief Lord Sebastian Coe
claimed athletics' reputation is being disproportionately damaged by
doping cases involving a small number of countries.
Lord Coe, an IAAF vice-president who is standing in next
August's election to be the organisation's president, called the allegations
'very serious' and promised any investigation into them will be completely
independent.
'This is not in every country of the world - there are 213
federations,' he said. 'But you do have to say a disproportionate amount of the
reputational damage is in a relatively small number of countries, and I think
we have to recognize this.
'They are very serious allegations. The very fact that the
allegations are in the public domain means that they are serious. So, we have
to be very clear that this is a very, very difficult time for our sport.'
Former discus thrower
Yevgeniya Pecherina claims that '99 per cent' of Russian athletes take performance-enhancing
drugs
The extraordinary claim that 99 per cent of Russian Olympic
athletes are taking performance-enhancing drugs was just enough to wake
anti-doping officials from their slumber yesterday. Allegations of systematic
abuse on a scale comparable to the old Eastern Bloc were made in a German TV
documentary.
Former discus thrower Yevgeniya Pecherina claimed that
‘most... the majority... 99 per cent’ of Russian athletes take banned sub
‘You can get absolutely everything,’ said the 25-year-old,
who is serving a 10-year doping ban.
The programme also broadcast footage
seemingly showing the 800metres gold medallist from the London Olympics, Mariya
Savinova, admitting to have taken the illegal steroid oxandrolone.
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Mariya
Savinova won silver in the 800m at the World Championships in 2013 (left) and
she won the gold medal in the same event at the London 2012 Olympics
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Liliya Shobukhova, the 2010 London Marathon winner and now
banned for irregularities in her biological passport, claimed she paid the
Russian Athletics Federation £350,000 to cover up a failed test.
Even more alarming are claims that Russian athletics
officials supplied drugs in exchange for a slice of an athlete’s earnings.
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Liliya
Shobukhova crosses the finish line to win the Chicago marathon in 2011
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Britain’s Dai Greene, who competed in the 400m hurdles at the
World Championships in Moscow last year, posted on Twitter: ‘This is no surprise
to any athletes. We know when we see suspect performances. Is enough being done
to stop it?’
The
World Anti-Doping Agency — once dubbed the Weak and Defenceless Agency — last
night issued a statement that amounted to little more than a sigh, saying:
‘WADA will ensure that all matters raised are fully investigated.’
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Dick
Pound, the former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), has lambasted
the IAAF for not acting on allegations of systematic Russian doping
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Culled from Daily Mail
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