Chinese world record-holder Wang Junxia implicated in state-sponsored doping

Now, according to The Irish Times, world governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) will pursue the implications to determine if the letter can be verified as genuine.

The claims are contained in a letter allegedly written in 1995 by Wang and nine team-mates coached by the controversial Ma Junren, but has only just come to light.

Ireland’s most renowned athlete won one silver at the 1993 World Athletic Championships in Stuggart but her second and fourth place finishes in the 1500m and 3000m races could be upgraded with Chinese media reporting that their athletes at the time were given “large doses of illegal drugs”.

“For many years, [he] forced us to take a large dose of illegal drugs”.

Zhao says he attempted to include the doping allegations in his 1997 book about the coach and his athletes, “Revealing the Secrets of Ma’s Army”, but they were deleted and not made public until a new edition was published a year ago.

Signatories to the letter are Ma Ningning, Wang Yuan, Lu Ou, Wang Xiaoxia, Zhang Linli, Liu Li, Lu Yi, Liu Dong, Wang Junxia and Zhang Lirong.

The IAAF could scrap the women’s 10,000m record amid reports the current world record holder has admitted to doping.

Ma stepped up his alleged doping regime after 1991, CCTV cited the latest edition as saying, adding that some athletes complained of side effects such as husky voices and liver problems, but “they would never escape injection from coach Ma”.

“We are humans, not animals”, the letter read. The IAAF has sought the collaboration of the Chinese Athletics Association.

IAAF rules that if an athlete makes an admission of guilt they have the right to “take action”, this could lead to O’Sullivan’s results in Stuttgart being upgraded.

“If an athlete has admitted that, at some time prior to achieving a world record, he or she had used or taken advantage of a substance or technique prohibited at that time, then, subject to the advice of the Medical and Anti-Doping Commission, such a record will not continue to be regarded as a world record by the IAAF”.

The legitimacy of Wang’s world records, set in the space of six days in Beijing in 1993, has always been questioned. Her 10,000-meter world record shattered the previous world record by Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway by 42 seconds.

“We are also anxious that we would harm our country’s fame and reduce the worth of the gold medals we have worked very hard to get”.

Junxia is the 1993 world champion at 10,000-meters and 1996 Olympic champion at 5,000-meters.