Alarm over widespread doping allegations in global athletics

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said it was “very alarmed” by the allegations.

Athletics faced a fresh doping scandal Saturday when leaked results from 12,000 blood tests taken from 5,000 competitors allegedly demonstrated instances of cheating and “a shameful betrayal” of clean athletes.

The data, which belongs to the worldwide Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) but was released by a whistleblower, has been analysed by two leading anti-doping experts for the Sunday Times – scientist Robin Parisotto and exercise physiologist Michael Ashenden.

Meanwhile, Russian Federation and Kenya were subjected to new doping allegations in the documentary.

He said the material would be turned over immediately to WADA’s independent commission for investigation.

“There will be zero tolerance, this is clear”, IAAF Vice President Sergey Bubka said after meeting with WADA’s Reedie and Diack, who is stepping down later this month. “These issues will join that and they’ll look into them”.

Reedie stressed the allegations were unproven and athletes are assumed innocent until found guilty.

“It is wrong just to make any kind of assumption on allegations in the media”, he said.

The ARD program, called “Doping Top Secret: The Shadowy World of Athletics”, was broadcast three weeks before the world championships in Beijing, which run from August. 22-30.

“As always, WADA is committed to doing what’s necessary to ensure a level playing field for clean athletes of the world”, he added.

Among the other claims, the Sunday Times says more than 800 athletes – one in seven of those named in the files – have recorded blood-test results described by one of the experts as “highly suggestive of doping or at the very least abnormal”; and that more than a third of the world’s fastest times in endurance events were recorded by athletes whose tests have triggered suspicion. The newspaper claims none of those medals has been taken away by the authorities.

“Never have I seen such an alarmingly abnormal set of blood values”, Parisotto said, according to the BBC.

“In one event the entire podium was comprised of athletes, who in my opinion had most probably doped at some point in their career”.

‘I very much hope both organisations can respond to the latest allegations quickly so athletes and fans alike can carry on with confidence believing that progress is being made in tackling doping in our sport.’.

Ten medals at London 2012 were won by athletes who have recorded dubious results, it is claimed.

The makers of the film claim to have evidence of human growth hormone being used to boost Russian runners.

“We have to wait for the transcript of this before commenting”, IAAF General Secretary Essar Gabriel told reporters today.

The IAAF introduced biological passports for athletics as part of its drug testing regime in 2009, which help in the detection of abnormal fluctuations in red blood cell counts.

“‘Any other approach, in particular the use of data collected over a longer period for different purposes, with different objectives and with different methods of analysis, is nothing more than speculation”, the IAAF said.

A commission headed by former WADA president Dick Pound has been investigating the original ARD allegations.