‘IAAF blocked report on doping cheats’
A third of the world’s top athletes admitted to the offence, say authors
PHOTO: AFP
LONDON:
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) blocked the publication of a report that showed as many as a third of the world’s top athletes admitted using banned performance-enhancing techniques, reported The Sunday Times.
The authors of the report told the British newspaper that the world athletics governing body blocked publication of the study, which was carried out four years ago.
However, the IAAF responded by saying there was nothing new about these revelations. “The IAAF’s delaying publication for so long without good reason is a serious encroachment on the freedom of publication,” said the University of Tuebingen in Germany, which carried out the research, in a statement according to the paper.
Researchers from the university were given access to elite athletes at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea and concluded that between 29 and 34% of the 1,800 competitors at the championships had violated anti-doping rules in the previous 12 months.
“These findings demonstrate that doping is remarkably widespread among elite athletes, and remains largely unchecked despite current biological testing programmes,” concluded the report.
The IAAF responded by issuing a statement denying it had suppressed publication of the document.
“This is not a new story, having first been raised on German TV in 2013, and those concerns were addressed by the IAAF at the time,” said the statement. “The survey was intended to be extended to multi-sport events and no publication was ever evoked.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 17th, 2015.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) blocked the publication of a report that showed as many as a third of the world’s top athletes admitted using banned performance-enhancing techniques, reported The Sunday Times.
The authors of the report told the British newspaper that the world athletics governing body blocked publication of the study, which was carried out four years ago.
However, the IAAF responded by saying there was nothing new about these revelations. “The IAAF’s delaying publication for so long without good reason is a serious encroachment on the freedom of publication,” said the University of Tuebingen in Germany, which carried out the research, in a statement according to the paper.
Researchers from the university were given access to elite athletes at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea and concluded that between 29 and 34% of the 1,800 competitors at the championships had violated anti-doping rules in the previous 12 months.
“These findings demonstrate that doping is remarkably widespread among elite athletes, and remains largely unchecked despite current biological testing programmes,” concluded the report.
The IAAF responded by issuing a statement denying it had suppressed publication of the document.
“This is not a new story, having first been raised on German TV in 2013, and those concerns were addressed by the IAAF at the time,” said the statement. “The survey was intended to be extended to multi-sport events and no publication was ever evoked.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 17th, 2015.