An expert told MPs that the Int'l Association of Athletics Federations needs a period of "hyper transparency" because the public has lost faith in the idea that athletes are competing cleanly, according to the PA. Michael Ashenden "helped produce a controversial analysis" which suggested the IAAF "has turned a blind eye to hundreds of suspicious blood tests." He told the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee, "Unfortunately I think the IAAF has lost the trust of the public ... there needs to be a period of hyper-transparency" to get the sport back to where it should be. Ashenden suggested that "the publication of anonymous blood scores could help reassure the public that the problem was being tackled." He said that the Int'l Cycling Federation (UCI), which has faced its own high-profile doping scandals, "had been quicker to react to the problem." Ashenden suggested the IAAF had a "did-not-want-to-know" attitude about doping, including suggestions about under-age Kenyan athletes. He also told the committee there is "some level of systematic doping in Russian athletes," but could not give an explanation for this. IAAF President Sebastian Coe branded Ashenden’s allegations a "declaration of war" on athletics, claiming that cheats had been weeded out despite "intense embarrassment" to the sport. Ashenden described Coe’s comments as "extreme," saying, "It is ironic they accuse the Sunday Times of being sensationalist yet they call it a declaration of war. I think they would regret that statement" (PA, 9/8). The BBC reported UK Anti-Doping CEO Nicole Sapstead told MPs that "sophisticated drug cheats are still one step ahead of the authorities." She said some athletes went to "extraordinary lengths" to avoid detection, including hiring scientists to tell them what to take when. The MPs "were also told the anti-doping authorities suffered from a lack of resources." Sapstead said that "scientists were telling doping athletes how long to delay when drug testers knock on their door." She said, "There are drugs out there which are constantly being modified to avoid detection and that's the problem that organizations such as ours have. The science is behind the sophisticated cheater." Asked which sports were "cleanest," she listed squash, badminton and table tennis, and also said that "she had seen no evidence of under 16s doping" in the U.K. (BBC, 9/8).
