Coe Blasts Accusations of IAAF Failing in Doping Fight

(ATR) Sebastian Coe has launched an angry defence of the IAAF’s drug-testing efforts, saying it is not "turning a blind eye" to rampant blood doping.

A day after Coe declared allegations by German broadcaster ARD and The Sunday Times as a "declaration of war" on athletics, he again hit out at accusations that the IAAF had failed to address hundreds of suspicious blood tests.

"I don't think anyone should underestimate the anger which is felt in our sport in the betrayal of the last few days of our sport," the IAAF presidential candidate told a BBC radio news program on Wednesday.

"We have led the way on this. That in some way we sit on our hands, at best, and at worst are complicit in a cover-up… that is just not borne out by anything we have done as a sport in the past 15 years," he said.

"We have led the way on independent out-of-competition testing, on accredited laboratories, we were the first sport to have arbitration panels, we introduced blood passports in 2009 because we wanted to elevate the science around weeding out the cheats."

Saying that the IAAF was investing $2 million a year in its fight against doping, he added: "We moved from two to four years [bans] for serious infringements. Every athlete at the 2011 world championships and in 2013 was subject to blood tests."

Coe is battling with Ukrainian pole vaulting legend and IOC member Sergey Bubka to secure the IAAF presidency in elections in Beijing on Aug. 19.

The allegations of widespread doping were triggered by a leaked database obtained by the German public-service broadcaster and The Sunday Times. After analysis of the results of 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes taken from 2001 to 2012, they concluded that 800 were suspicious.

One-third of all medals in endurance races at the Olympics and world championships over that 10-year period were allegedly won by athletes who recorded suspicious doping tests.

The double 1,500 meter Olympic gold medalist rubbished the conclusions by anti-doping scientists Robin Parisotto and Michael Ashenden.

"To be selectively suggesting that an elevated one-off reading is the same as a positive test is just so wide of the mark," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today program, saying the blood passport system was based on building up a full profile.

Coe said it "has chased some of the highest profile athletes out of our sport. It is not easy for us and has caused intense embarrassment".

"We have done more than any other sport to weed out the cheats and protect the rights of the vast majority of athletes that want to go about this cleanly," he said.

"And, yes, some get through the system and yes we have countries out there that are causing a problem. To say that we are simply not investigating or turning a blind eye could not be further from the truth."

The IAAF released a statement on Tuesday strongly refuting accusations it did not act on the suspicious blood tests."The published allegations were sensationalist and confusing: the results referred to were not positive tests. In fact, ARD and The Sunday Times both admit that their evaluation of the data did not prove doping," it said.

"Any reporting by the ARD and The Sunday Times that the IAAF was negligent in addressing or following up the suspicious profiles is simply false, disappointing, and misinformed journalism."

Speaking to Around the Rings in Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of the IOC Session on Monday, Bubka said the IAAF was doing its utmost in the fight against doping. "We work very hard, zero tolerance, protect clean athletes and use the best practice and best expertise," the IAAF vice president said.

"What needs to be done? If we need more employees in our medical and anti-doping department we will do that, how to make the system, rules and regulations more efficient."

In a statement on Wednesday, Bubka expanded on these comments, claiming the currentanti-doping system "is too complex and takes too long.It needs to be simplified to become faster and more efficient, and we need to deploy the best research and science to ensure that we keep a step ahead of the dopers.

"It is clear that we need more people working at the IAAF to tackle the biggest challenge our sport faces - identifying doping cheats and protecting clean athletes. This is a battle we can't afford to lose, for the sake of athletics and all sports. Athletics is the most fundamental of all sports, and the way the world sees athletics influences the way it views all sports," he added.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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