Paula Radcliffe, the world-record holder for the marathon, has attacked the system of parliamentary privilege after an MP suggested winners of the London race had potentially used outlawed blood doping techniques.
Jesse Norman, who chairs the House of Commons’ Culture, Media and Sport Selection Committee, has insisted he did not mean to identify any athletes.
But Radcliffe, three-time winner of the London Marathon, felt she had been effectively accused of blood doping.
In an interview with ITV News, she criticised parliamentary privilege, which allows MPs to make controversial claims without the risk of being sued.
“If it's a way of uncovering the truth and getting to the truth then there's some value to it,” she said.
“When it's abused in a way that it's used to expose and give extra oxygen to lies and to untruths and to damage to someone's reputation then there should be some structure in place that protects the people who are being abused under that situation.
“I wasn't invited there, I wasn't in there to defend myself so then those stories are already running and already being given oxygen before you get a chance to defend yourself and to react.”
The runner stressed that she had “never cheated at any point in my life”.
“I have never taken a prohibited substance. I have never doped in any way and so to be put in this situation and to have to now justify myself when I'm innocent and when I am a clean athlete is really, really frustrating and beyond hurtful,” she said.
Mr Norman appeared to raise suspicions about a prominent British marathon runner when he asked David Kenworthy, chairman of UK Anti Doping: “When you hear that the London Marathon, potentially the winners or medallists at the London Marathon, potentially British athletes, are under suspicion for very high levels of blood doping… when you think of the effect that has on young people and the community nature of that event, what are your emotions about that, how do you feel about that?”
