IOC boss pledges ‘zero tolerance’ towards doping-tainted results

“The IAAF is a very strong leader in the fight against doping”.

“I feel for the athletes themselves that have been in the position of finishing fourth or fifth knowing that they may have won those medals and their lives would be changed quite significantly in a few way”.

Ashenden was also critical of the IAAF in the Sunday Times, saying: “For the IAAF to have harvested millions of dollars from the broadcasting of athletics events around the world…yet only devote a relative pittance of those funds towards anti-doping, when they could see the bad truth of what lay beneath the surface, is… a shameful betrayal of their primary duty to police their sport and to protect clean athletes”.

Scientists Robin Parisotto and Michael Ashenden – described as two of the world’s foremost anti-doping experts – reviewed the leaked data.

“There were 800-odd abnormal or suspicious results but not all of those would have been truly indicative of doping”, Parisotto told Reuters.

“However there have been values that have been … fairly excessive and even making an allowance for confounding elements, there was actually no disputing what that knowledge was telling us”, he stated.

“There are allegations made, no evidence”, IAAF president Lamine Diack said.

“We want to look into them seriously because to say that in athletics between 2001 and 2012 we did not do a serious job with tests is laughable”.

Diack denied any wrongdoing by his federation, claiming that the IAAF “has done everything for doping control” over that specific period.

The head of the global Olympic Committee (IOC) has promised the organization will pursue a policy of “zero tolerance” if allegations of widespread doping by track and field athletes at the Olympics are proven.

Medals gained might be affected if any instances of doping have been subsequently unearthed utilizing newer testing methods that didn’t exist on the time.

She added: “I know I’m clean”.

The disclosures come as the IAAF is preparing to elect a new president in two weeks, with Britain’s Sebastian Coe standing against former Ukrainian pole-vaulting star Sergey Bubka.

Boston dropped out last week amid a lack of public support, but the U.S. Olympic Committee still plans to enter a bid by the September 15 deadline, with Los Angeles considered the likely choice. WADA has stated it was “very disturbed” by the stories.

The IAAF noted that the reports were based on confidential information obtained without permission. The Germans have developed a new type of sport – hunting Russian sportsmen. Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko has said the allegations had “nothing to do with Russia” and that they reflected a power battle before the IAAF leadership vote.

Russian Federation has the highest occurrence of adverse results, with 80 per cent of its medal winners, and 30 per cent of all its athletes tested, coming under suspicion, although competitors from across the globe have been implicated.

It is also alleged by the Sunday Times that a top UK athlete is among seven Britons with “suspicious” blood scores, while it is claimed that 10 medals were won at the London 2012 Olympics by athletes who had reportedly recorded dubious test results.

The allegations concern techniques to improve the ability of blood to carry oxygen, which can give an advantage in endurance events like cycling or running over medium and long distances.

The Sunday Occasions and ARD stated they got entry to the outcomes of greater than 12,000 exams of greater than 5,000 athletes taken between 2001 and 2012.