UK Athletics Warns of Doping 'Denial'

(ATR) UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner says the IAAF still has "much to do" in the fight against doping.

In the wake of the IAAF’s blanket ban on Russia from the Rio Olympics, Warner raised concerns Wednesday about the speed of change towards doping-free competition as UK Athletics launched its 'Clean Athletics' brand. The organization’s anti-doping department will bear the name.

Admitting that there had been a "seismic change" in the IAAF’s response to doping in 2016, under president Sebastian Coe, he said: "Overall, we are concerned that the pace of change remains too slow, in spite of the Russian situation and the spotlight it shed on WADA and its relationship with the IOC last summer.

"There remains too much denial in too many quarters, but we will continue to work to make progress in the areas we can."

UKA’s 14-point plans for a doping-free sport were first announced last year in ‘A Manifesto for Clean Athletics’ and set in motion debate around resetting world records and introducing lengthier suspensions for drug cheats.

On Wednesday, UKA offered an update on developments towards these goals.

It restated its intention to seek to a lifetime ban from competition for Team GB for any athlete guilty of a serious anti-doping violation.

"Bans should be extended to a minimum of eight years for serious doping offences to ensure that cheating athletes miss two Olympic or Paralympic cycles. Lifetime bans should also be applied in appropriate cases," UK Athletics said in its release.

Other national athletic federations have either announced, or are currently working on, their own systems of ensuring lifetime bans, UKA noted.

UKA also called for the IAAF "to investigate the implications of drawing a line under all pre-existing sport records … and commencing a new set of records based on performances in the new Clean Athletics era".

European Athletics have announced a taskforce to look into possible resetting of records.

The British athletics body said the IAAF should ensure that all athletes competing in world championships have a valid blood/biological passport and are subject to a predetermined number of in-competition and out-of-competition tests in the year before the competition.

The Russian doping scandal remains in the spotlight this week.

Leaders of 19 national anti-doping organizations on Tuesday called for Russia to be banned from participating in and staging global events following a meeting in Dublin. The IOC in December extended measures punishing Russia, which included barring the country from being awarded any new sporting events.

IAAF chief Coe was on Tuesday summoned to reappear before the British government’s culture, media and sport select committee about doping and corruption at athletics’ governing body.

The request came after former London Marathon chief Dave Bedford told MPs he had alerted Coe to corruption within the IAAF and some of Russia’s doping problems ahead of his election to the top job in world athletics.

But Coe is set to snub a parliamentary hearing after he said in a statement that he had no fresh information to give MPs following his December 2015 hearing.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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