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IAAF
president Lord Coe is expected to give evidence before Parliament next week
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The IAAF has been accused
of trying to "muddy the waters" in the ongoing doping scandal by one
of the experts at the centre of the case. Michael Ashenden, one of two anti-doping
experts enlisted by the Sunday Times to analyze leaked data belonging to the
IAAF, has issued a response to the world governing body's statement, released
on Friday, in which it insisted it had used "every tool available to it to
catch blood dopers in athletics and with considerable success".
Ashenden
claimed the 38-page document, released ahead of Lord Coe's expected appearance
before Parliament's Culture Media and Sport Select Committee next week, failed
to answer the key questions. "The
IAAF has released a statement that comprises 25 pages of hair-splitting, plus
13 pages of appendices," his statement said.
Press Association report continues:
"The
irony of a disgraced federation casting aspersions is not lost on me. But their
deliberately bloated document, no doubt intended to muddy the waters, cannot go
unanswered."
The
IAAF said on Friday its documents show the world governing body had
"consistently been a pioneer" in the war against doping, and sought
to demonstrate that it had been rigorous in its testing and use of the blood
data it held.
However,
Lord Coe's predecessor as IAAF president Lamine Diack is under investigation
over an alleged payment of more than one million euros to cover up doping
offences by Russian athletes.
An
Independent Commission, chaired by former World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick
Pound, revealed a systematic programme of doping was implemented in Russia,
which has since been suspended by the IAAF.
Ashenden
continued: "It is not just the Sunday Times or German broadcaster ARD
questioning whether the IAAF 'idly sat by and let this happen'.
"The
Independent Commission (IC) has identified corruption and bribery practices at
the highest levels of international athletics, currently under investigation by
Interpol. A complex conspiracy involving the IAAF. Evidence of breaches of
processes and rules by IAAF officials.
"The
IC said that the IAAF was inexplicably lax in following up suspicious blood
profiles. I witnessed symptoms of that disgraceful behaviour when I inspected a
database drenched with suspect blood profiles. I made comment accordingly.
However it was not until the IC released its report that I had some insight as
to 'why', and 'how', suspect profiles had not been actioned."
In
response to the IAAF's claims that it did all it could under the rules,
Ashenden said: "Faced with the life threatening blood values which they
knew existed amongst their athletes, I say they should have tried to push the
legal envelope.
"I
have argued previously that there is a place for prudence when launching legal
actions based on suspicious blood results. But the blood values were so
extreme, over such an extended period, that they should have tried to do
something, anything. The IAAF were legally timid when they should have been
morally strong."
Robin
Parisotto, who worked with Ashenden in analyzing the leaked data, later issued
his own statement describing the IAAF's response as " quite simply
breathtaking in scope but of questionable significance when assessed in the
context of the gross abnormalities evident in the database".
Parisotto
said: " I...ask the IAAF to perhaps stop shooting the messenger(s) and
begin addressing the glaringly obvious problem of not only blood doping in
athletics (made evident in the WADA IC first report) but also the potential
effects of blood doping on the health of their constituency.
"As a final statement,
perhaps the IAAF should take a 'cold shower' and refrain from taking pot-shots
until the second WADA IC investigation is over."
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