Athletics is facing another doping crisis after what is claimed to be the biggest ever leak of blood-test data revealed a third of medals, including 55 golds, in endurance events at Olympics and world championships between 2001 and 2012 were won by athletes who recorded suspicious tests.
The blood-doping data, detailing 12,000 tests from 5,000 athletes, was leaked to the Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD/WRD by a whistleblower at the International Association of Athletics Federations
The newspaper claims the leak reveals “the extraordinary extent of cheating by athletes at the world’s most prestigious events”, yet alleges none of the athletes involved was stripped of their medals.
Robin Parisotto, described as one of the “world’s foremost anti-doping experts”, reviewed the data. “Never have I seen such an alarmingly abnormal set of blood values,” he said.
“So many athletes appear to have doped with impunity, and it is damning that the IAAF appears to have idly sat by and let this happen.”
Ten medals at London 2012 were won by athletes who have recorded dubious results, but Mo Farah, who won 10,000m and 5,000m gold, is not among them, although there is one leading British athlete with suspicious readings.
While the evidence is not concrete proof of doping, the revelations raise more significant concerns over whether the sport’s governing body is doing enough to deal with the problem ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Beijing this month.
