Sport

Sport

Athletics: Sebastian Coe and IAAF protest against doping allegations

Athletics: Sebastian Coe and IAAF protest against doping allegations

It’s not like anybody expected the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to throw their hands up in the air and say: yep, we look on as athletes dope themselves into oblivion, but their angry responses so far have done little to answer questions about why so many athletes are still allowed to compete despite dodgy blood work. By ANTOINETTE MULLER.

Just a few days after the publication of a massive leak alleging that a whole bunch of medals were won by athletes who have doped, Sebastian Coe, a vice-president of the IAAF, has hit back. As expected, Coe has insisted the IAAF aren’t simply sitting back with arms folded, watching as athletes dope themselves into oblivion.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lord Coe said the leak has made the athletes community very angry. And we know what happens when people are angry.

Nobody should under estimate the anger at the way our sport has been portrayed,” he said. “Every athlete at the world championships in 2011 and 2013 was subject to a blood test, that’s unprecedented. We spent $2m a year out of our budget (on anti-doping) and we are not a rich sport, we have 10 full-time professionals. What has angered me is the portrayal that we are doing absolutely nothing. In fact, we have led the way on this.”

Watch: Sebastian Coe wins 1500m gold medal at 1980 Moscow Olympic Games

It would seem the sir doth protest too much. The problem is not that the IAAF are doing nothing. The problem is that they are doing nothing about athletes whose blood results are dubious, allegedly anyway. The leak suggested that out of 12,000 Tests from 5,000 different athletes, 800 had dodgy bloodwork and almost 150 medals had been won by athletes whose blood work was abnormal.

World Anti-doping Agency (Wada) president Craig Reedie said earlier this week he was “disturbed” by the allegations, adding that it will “shake the foundation of clean athletes worldwide” and “require swift and close scrutiny”.

But Coe protested against that too.

He was shocked by allegations made around some individual nations, but what Craig Reedie wasn’t saying was (that) he was surprised by the nature of this information because Wada has that information. The only two organisations that share the database are us, Wada, and the athletes,” he said.

Earlier this week, Coe said in an interview with the Associated Press that it was all just sensationalist.

The use of this stuff, the sensationalising, this is absolutely an attempt to destroy the reputation of the athletes and our sport,” Coe said. “Nobody is remotely suggesting that news organisations don’t have the right to question and challenge and kick the tyres but this selective use of this so-called information is just wrong.”

The use of that database, however it got into their possession, displayed either breathtaking ignorance or a level of malevolence around a set of readings you simply cannot extrapolate beyond,” Coe said. “The idea that my sport sat there either covering up wrongdoing or just being incompetent could not be wider of the mark.”

The IAAF have also issued a statement saying the allegations were “sensationalist and confusing”. But, it seems that it is the IAAF themselves who are confused. Neither the Sunday Times nor ARD, the German broadcaster which had gained access to the leaked information, ever claimed that the results were positive for doping. There were simply a number of results that were “odd”. These accusations made the IAAF angry. Their statement went on: “The experts have never worked for the IAAF and are therefore in no position to make any comment regarding what the IAAF has done or not done in the development and implementation of its blood-and-urine-target-testing programme. To do so is simply guesswork on their part. The IAAF categorically denies all allegations made by ARD and the Sunday Times and, specifically, that it failed in its duty to pursue an effective blood-testing programme at all times.”

The governing body also insists that it did do follow up tests, but only six athletes have been banned as a result. As anyone who followed the Lance Armstrong case will tell you, blood doping can be hard to prove. Unusual blood values are a good indicator, but difficult to monitor. The IAAF have made some progress in the fight against doping, by introducing the blood passport, however, a mere 10 people are employed worldwide to manage a testing procedure that monitors athletes in over 200 countries. Athletics isn’t exactly one of the richest sports, but it’s easy to see how mistakes might occur when the problems have such a wide reach. DM

Photo: Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, during a press conference at the Main Press Centre of the London 2012 Olympic Games, London, Britain, 27 July 2012. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL.

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.