Sensational claims that 150 athletes, including one of Britain’s best-known track and field stars, had suspicious blood values that were covered up have been played down by the International Association of Athletics Federations.
The allegations, made by the German TV station WDR, were based on a whisteblower from the IAAF’s medical commission, who told the programme Inside Sport he had a list of dozens of suspicious blood tests that were not followed up from 2006 to 2008.
Many of the samples were reported to have come from Russian athletes but among others involved were three British athletes who are said to be on the list.
The IAAF inferred it would be wrong to assume too much from blood tests, given the athlete biological passport was introduced only in 2009 “when Wada [the World Anti-Doping Agency] set out a harmonised regulatory framework allowing the use of reliable and comparable values”.
The IAAF also suggested the tests conducted between 2006 and 2008 might not be able to show an athlete had doped and has hinted that the knowledge of WDR’s whistleblower might be incomplete.
“The blood data collected before 2009 were used for target purposes to trigger follow-up urine tests for EPO detection,” it said. “This was the practice by the few international federations which were conducting blood tests back then. Abnormal results were duly followed up by the IAAF, whenever possible logistically.
“One cannot draw any conclusion on whether or not an athlete has doped on the basis of one single blood value. The whole concept of the ABP is to monitor the variations of an athlete’s profile consisting of multiple values. A member of the IAAF medical and anti-doping commission would not know whether follow-up tests would have been conducted or not.”
Despite the IAAF’s vigorous defence, the claims heap yet more pressure on the governing body of world athletics. In the past week it has been alleged by WDR that a number of high-profile Russian athletes, including the London 2012 800m champion, Mariya Savinova, doped with the full knowledge of the Russian authorities.
The IAAF treasurer and Russian Athletics Federation president, Valentin Balakhnichev, was also said to be aware a Russian official extorted €450,000 from Liliya Shobukhova, the London Marathon winner in 2011, to allow her to compete at the 2012 Olympic Games – yet did nothing.
WDR also alleged Papa Massata Diack, the son of the IAAF president, Lamine Diack, had business links with the owner of the Singapore-registered company, Black Tidings, which was used to cover up doping. Diack has denied involvement with the company but has admitted to business links with its owner.
The IAAF said the blood tests conducted before 2009 were used as part of a study which allowed it to identify the countries where there was a high risk of doping and to adjust its doping control programme accordingly.It claimed the results were not as reliable as those conducted since 2009.
“When they are available, the IAAF has used the blood values prior to 2009 as secondary evidence, in support of an increased sanction in addition to the post-2009 profile to establish the athlete’s long history of doping,” it said. “However these values do not have the same level of reliability and strength as the post-2009 values which were collected under strict and stringent conditions.”
Lord Coe, who last week announced his candidacy for the IAAF president and has called for the establishment of an independent doping body, said he would wait for IAAF’s ethics committee and Wada to report before considering what should happen next.
“It is vital that the IAAF, the ethics committee and Wada complete their work on recent allegations. Only then can appropriate steps be considered,” he said.
