The athletics world governing body President Lamine Diack has dismissed as laughable suggestion that infighting within IAAF has hampered the war against doping in athletics.
The IAAF President was reacting to reports of suspected widespread blood doping in athletics by Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper and Germany’s ARD broadcaster on Sunday.
They alleged that they had obtained secret data from the IAAF claiming endurance runners suspected of doping had been winning a third of the medals at Olympic Games and world championships.
The report found that 146 medals – including 55 golds – in disciplines ranging from the 800 meters to the marathon at the Olympics and world championships were won by athletes who have recorded suspicious tests.
The Sunday Times said that 10 medals at the 2012 London Olympics were won by athletes with suspicious results, and that in some finals every athlete in the medal positions had recorded a dubious blood test.
However Diack, who will be stepping down later this month after 15 years at the helm of the International Association of Athletics Federations, also questioned the timing of the reports, which came out three weeks before the track and field world championships in Beijing, which run from Aug. 22-30.
The IOC has previously stripped medals from athletes who have been retroactively found guilty of doping offenses dating back to the time of the games. The IOC also stores Olympic doping samples for 10 years for possible retesting.
IOC president Thomas Bach said it is up to the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate the allegations, including that one-third of medals in endurance races at the Olympics and world championships from 2001 to 2012 were won by athletes who recorded suspicious blood tests.
Anti-doping scientist Robin Parisotto, who reviewed the data obtained by the media outlets from the period covering 2001 to 2012 with blood doping expert Michael Ashenden, has been critical of IAAF, saying many athletes appeared to have doped with impunity.
Diack denied any wrongdoing by his federation, claiming that the IAAF “has done everything for doping control” over that specific period.
