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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Secret Data Alleges Rampant Blood Doping In Athletics, Insufficient Action By IAAF

Secret data revealing the "extraordinary extent of cheating by athletes at the world’s most highly regarded events" was disclosed on Sunday, according to Calvert & Arbuthnott of the SUNDAY TIMES. The Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD/WDR have been given access to a database containing more than 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes, "including many household names from across the world." The blood-doping data reveals that "a third of medals, including 55 golds, have been won in endurance events at the Olympics and world championships by athletes who have recorded suspicious tests -- yet the authorities have failed to take away any of the medals." The data shows that athletics is in the same "diabolical state" as cycling in the scandal-hit era of Lance Armstrong, according to world experts who describe the findings as a "shameful betrayal" of clean athletes. Several British athletes "have lost out in major events to competitors who were under suspicion." They include Jessica Ennis-Hill, "the star heptathlete, who believes she was robbed of a gold medal in the world championships." Two of the world's foremost anti-doping experts, who reviewed the files, said that the data "provided compelling evidence that the IAAF had failed to take sufficient action against athletes with highly suspicious tests." Robin Parisotto, a scientist who regularly reviews athletes' blood tests, said: "Never have I seen such an alarmingly abnormal set of blood values ... So many athletes appear to have doped with impunity, and it is damning that the IAAF appears to have idly sat by and let this happen." The files include the following "incendiary revelations:"

  • More than 800 athletes -- one in seven of those named in the files -- have recorded blood-test results described by one of the experts as "highly suggestive of doping or at the very least abnormal."
  • A top U.K. athlete is among seven Britons with "suspicious" blood scores. The athlete scored the single most abnormal blood score of all the 490 tests on British athletes.
  • Ten medals at London 2012 were won by athletes who have had "dubious test results."
  • Twenty-one athletes recorded blood values "so extreme that they risked heart attacks or strokes, and should have been given emergency treatment" to have their blood drained.
  • Star names such as Mo Farah and Usain Bolt, "who have been the subject of whispering campaigns, emerge as clean with no abnormal results."
  • More than a third of the world's fastest times in endurance events "were achieved by athletes whose tests have triggered suspicion."
The IAAF "threatened to take out an injunction preventing The Sunday Times from publishing details from the files," but it dropped its action at the 11th hour on Friday (SUNDAY TIMES, 8/2).

ATHLETICS ROILED: REUTERS' Karolos Grohmann reported 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 '99 to coordinate doping investigations across global sport, said that it was "very disturbed." WADA President Craig Reedie said at an IOC meeting in Kuala Lumpur, "These are wild allegations, wide allegations and we will check them out and have that done with the commission as quickly as possible" (REUTERS, 8/2). In London, Haroon Siddique reported Reedie stressed that the allegations were unproven and that athletes were "assumed innocent until found guilty." Reedie: "It is wrong just to make any kind of assumption on allegations in the media" (GUARDIAN, 8/2). In London, Teddy Cutler reported former Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka, who is standing against Sebastian Coe for the IAAF presidency, said that the organization would take a "zero-tolerance policy" toward doping. Bubka: "We know that in the 21st century the biggest danger is doping, and there will be zero tolerance. If we need to strengthen our rules and regulations we will do it. We will continue to co-operate with WADA, and we will continue to co-operate with the IOC." Coe did not "break his silence on the story until later in the day," when he tweeted, "In response to today's media reports, I know that the IAAF takes these allegations extremely seriously and it will issue a robust and detailed response to them and continue to work closely, as it has always done, with Wada" (LONDON TIMES, 8/2).

ON THE DEFENSIVE: The BBC's Dan Roan reported the IAAF said that before the introduction in '09 of the biological passport -- which monitors longitudinal blood value -- its testers had "systematically pursued" all results that were deemed "atypical" with immediate urine tests for EPO and "then target-tested those athletes in and out of competition." Since the introduction of the passport, the IAAF said that it has "pursued more cases under the passport system than all other anti-doping organisations together," and is spending $2M a year on combating cheating. It added, "As a percentage of overall annual budget this is the highest of any sport." There can be "various reasons for abnormal blood samples other than performance-enhancing drugs." Illness, altitude training and pregnancy can all influence values (BBC, 8/2). In London, Jennifer Hughes reported the claims come as the IAAF prepares for the biennial World Championships to be held in Beijing this month. While there, the group will also elect a new president, with Coe standing against Bubka (FINANCIAL TIMES, 8/2).

FARAH CLEARED: In London, Ben Rumsby reported the documentary alleged that seven British athletes have suspicious blood passports. British athletes "were also said to have lost out in major events to competitors who were under suspicion." However, Farah recorded no abnormal tests. The British double Olympic champion has been "forced to insist on his innocence" after his coach Alberto Salazar was "recently the subject of doping allegations in a Panorama documentary." Salazar has "strenuously denied all of the allegations against him" (TELEGRAPH, 8/1).

KENYA DISMISSES REPORTS: REUTERS' Drazen Jorgic reported Kenya's athletics body said on Sunday that media reports alleging doping among its runners "were a smear campaign ahead of world championships in Beijing." The more than 12,000 blood tests showed more than 800 athletes had given blood samples that were "highly suggestive" of doping or "abnormal." Of the 800, 77 were Kenyan athletes, according to the reports. Athletics Kenya said that claims of widespread systematic doping among Kenyan runners was "suspect and ill-motivated." AK said in a statement, "The unwarranted claims on the Kenyan athletes are deliberately aimed at derailing the preparations and the participation of the Kenyan team in the World Championships" (REUTERS, 8/2). European Athletics President Svein Arne said in a statement, "The allegations of suspected widespread doping in top-level athletics ... are a cause for deep dismay and yet another indication of how much we as a sport still have to do to ensure that athletics is free of doping and seen to be fair and clean. Without comment on the veracity of the various claims or the leaking of confidential files from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), European Athletics shares the concerns expressed by the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and we call on the IAAF, as the world governing body for the sport, to clarify the situation and step up its already leading efforts to combat the scourge of doping" (European Athletics).

RUSSIA RESPONDS: In London, Alec Luhn reported top Russian sports officials "have responded with anger to new accusations that athletes suspected of doping won most of the country's athletics medals" between '01 and '12, arguing that performance-enhancing drugs "were a problem everywhere." Former athletics head coach Valentin Maslakov, who resigned in January after the IAAF said that it was "concerned about the number of Russian doping cases," rejected the claim. He said, "Of course it's not true. Everyone is the same, everyone is equal. Russia is not the leader in this area." Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko similarly denied that Russia had a "more egregious doping problem than any other country." He said, "This scandal doesn't have to do with Russia, it has to do with the world system of track and field athletics" (GUARDIAN, 8/2).

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