|
 "There are real questions to be asked if there is no action taken,
particularly for the results taken post-2009," said Robin Parisotto,
an inventor of the test used to detect the blood doping agent EPO.
"Some of the values in these athletes were so extreme that they were
downright dangerous and the risks to their health were
indisputable."
The head of world athletics defended the International Association
of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) anti-doping record as global
sporting bodies called for a thorough probe into the latest
allegations to plunge international sport into crisis.
That followed a report by Britain's Sunday Times newspaper and
Germany's ARD/WDR broadcaster on Sunday that they had obtained from
a whistleblower secret IAAF data that indicated suspected widespread
blood doping in athletics between 2001 and 2012.
In an interview, Australian Parisotto, one of two scientific experts
cited in the reports, said more than 800 athletes had recorded one
or more "abnormal" results, defined as a result that had less than
one chance in 100 of being natural.
Such athletes accounted for 146 medals at top events, including 55
golds, the Sunday Times said.
Parisotto noted that not all the abnormal results necessarily
indicated doping, as factors such as the timing of tests, altitude
and testing conditions could have led to some suspicious outcomes.
"But there were values that were ... quite extreme and even taking
into consideration confounding factors, there was really no
disputing what that data was telling us," he said.
In response to the reports, IAAF President Lamine Diack told
Reuters: "There are allegations made, no evidence. We want to look
into them seriously because to say that in athletics between 2001
and 2012 we did not do a serious job with tests is laughable."
Coming only weeks before track and field's showpiece world
championships in Beijing, the reports claim endurance runners
suspected of doping had been winning a third of the medals at
Olympic Games and world championships in that period.
The reports did not say that any athletes had failed doping tests,
only that the tests had been abnormal, which can sometimes be a sign
of cheating.
The allegations are the latest setback to tarnish the multi-billion
dollar world of sport after the scandal at soccer's global governing
body, FIFA.
PRESUMED INNOCENCE
Athletics are a central part of the Olympics, the only sporting
event that rivals soccer's World Cup in scale and which collects
billions of dollars from sponsors like Coca-Cola <KO.N>, Panasonic
<6752.T>, Visa <V.N> and McDonald's <MCD.N>.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach told
reporters on Monday he had spoken to the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) head Craig Reedie and had full confidence in that body to
investigate the claims thoroughly, adding the IOC would act with
"zero tolerance" if there should be a case involving results at an
Olympic Games.
"But at this time we have nothing more than allegations and we have
to respect the presumption of innocence for the athletes," he said.
[to top of second column] |
Medals won could be affected if any cases of doping were
subsequently unearthed using newer testing techniques that did not
exist at the time.
"I do not know what we are dealing with," Senegal's Diack said. "It
is possible if we discover with new techniques that someone doped
etcetera, etcetera then yes, otherwise no."
The reports also come weeks before a new IAAF president will be
elected, with Britain's Sebastian Coe and Sergey Bubka of Ukraine
bidding to replace the retiring Diack.
POWER BATTLE
Earlier, U.S. anti-doping agency chief executive Travis Tygart said
an "aggressive review" was needed to protect clean athletes. WADA
has said it was "very disturbed" by the reports.
The IAAF noted that the reports were based on confidential
information obtained without permission.
A heavy preponderance of the "abnormal" results were from Russian
athletes, according to the media reports. Russian sports minister
Vitaly Mutko has said the allegations had "nothing to do with
Russia" and they reflected a power battle ahead of the IAAF
leadership vote.
Russia accounted for 415 abnormal tests, followed distantly by
Ukraine, Morocco, Spain, Kenya, Turkey and others. "A remarkable 80
percent of Russia's medal winners recorded suspicious scores at some
point in their careers," the Sunday Times said.
The allegations concern techniques to improve the ability of blood
to carry oxygen, which can give an advantage in endurance events
like cycling or running over medium and long distances.
The Sunday Times and ARD said they were given access to the results
of more than 12,000 tests of more than 5,000 athletes taken between
2001 and 2012.
(Additional reporting by Julian Linden in KUALA LUMPUR, Steve
Ginsburg in WASHINGTON, Lincoln Feast in SYDNEY, Peter Rutherford in
SINGAPORE and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Paul Tait and Ian
Geoghegan)
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