Farah injection before 2014 London Marathon was not recorded - doctor

[April 20, 2017]  (Reuters) - Double Olympic champion Mo Farah was given a legal dose of a controversial supplement before the 2014 London Marathon, but the treatment was not properly recorded, the doctor who gave him the injection has said.

Dr Robin Chakraverty, former chief medical officer at UK Athletics, told British legislators he injected Farah with 13.5 milliliters (ml) of L-carnitine prior to his London Marathon debut but had "forgotten" to record it in the necessary forms.

L-carnitine is a legal supplement but administering a quantity greater than 50ml within six hours is prohibited.

"When you are constantly on call for athletes you travel to those athletes," Chakraverty, who now works with the England football team, told the Culture Media and Sport select committee.

"If you don't record it straight away -- which I didn't in this case -- then it can get forgotten because you have all these other things."

In February, Farah's coach Alberto Salazar issued a rebuttal of a Sunday Times article alleging he had administered banned infusions of supplements to his athletes, citing what the newspaper said was a leaked US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) report.

Farah has denied any wrongdoing.

UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner criticized Chakraverty.

"It was disappointing, definitely. It is what happened. It shouldn't have happened," Warner told MPs. "You got a lot of regret. What you had from him was an explanation not an excuse. It is recorded on his record, as it should be."

Last month, British Cycling acknowledged "failings" in its record-keeping system after it emerged during an investigation that Team Sky did not keep complete medical records for their riders.

 Mo Farah of Britain sprints down The Mall before finishing in eighth position in the men's Elite London Marathon April 13, 2014. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

Team Sky are at the center of an investigation into the contents of a package delivered to then team doctor Richard Freeman at the Criterium du Dauphine race in France in 2011 for former rider Bradley Wiggins, who went on to win the 2012 Tour de France.

Warner denied there were any similarities between the Farah case and the one involving Wiggins.

"Please don't tar us with the same brush," he said. "I think they are both inexcusable. We should have the same gold-plated standard for all athletes."

(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

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