IAAF President Blasted in Government Doping Report

(ATR) Sebastian Coe has been criticized for "misleading" a British parliamentary inquiry into doping in athletics.

The report published by the government’s digital, culture, media and sport committee casts doubt on the responses he gave to them in December 2015 when he claimed no knowledge of allegations about doping corruption in Russia before an expose by German TV channel ARD and other investigative journalists.

The Combatting Doping in Sport report also said 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, Britain's most decorated Olympian, and Team Sky "crossed an ethical line" by using therapeutic use exemption (TUE) drugs to enhance performance in cycling races.

Released today, the report said Coe "sought to distance himself from any knowledge of the allegations of doping in Russian athletics, before the details were exposed in the German documentary. His answers to us about this were misleading".

It noted that Coe appeared to have ignored warnings in a phone call, text messages and an email from former London Marathon race director David Bedford about Liliya Shobukhova, the Russian marathon runner, who became a whistleblower for the World Anti-Doping Agency, who ARD alleged was extorted out of more than $500,000 by IAAF and Russian officials to cover-up doping violations before the London 2012 Olympics. Coe claimed he had only forwarded the email to the IAAF's ethics committee without opening the attachments.

The DCMS report praised Bedford’s actions but said "it stretches credibility to believe that he [Coe] was not aware, at least in general terms, of the main allegations that the Ethics Commission had been asked to investigate".

"It is certainly disappointing that Lord Coe did not take the opportunity, given to him by David Bedford, to make sure he was fully informed of the serious issues at stakein the Shobukhova case and their wider implications for the governance of the anti-doping rules at the IAAF," the report said.

"These are matters of the greatest seriousness and affect the reputation of both the IAAF and Lord Coe," it added, calling for the IAAF to introduce "rigorous systems"… "to deal with such matters and individuals acting with curiosity and concern when presented with compelling, important evidence".

The British parliamentary report did, however, applaud the world athletics body for the progress it was making in establishing more independent processes for the investigation of serious complaints brought by whistleblowers.

But it warned that the Shobukhova case "raises concerns about whether national or international sports federations are capable of investigating themselves when the allegations involve senior figures within the organisation itself.

"There is a real danger that internal politics inevitably plays a part in the process."

The DCMS said it welcomed the development of the Olympic Movement’s prevention of manipulation unit and partnership between the International Olympic Committee and Interpol in the fight against doping. "Protecting the integrity of sport requires powerful independent organisations to have the means to fully investigate the most serious allegations of corruption."

In a statement the global athletics body said: "The IAAF takes the fight against doping very seriously.

"Over the last 14 months (since the IAAF provided information to the DCMS Select Committee), the organisation has introduced a set of wide sweeping reforms to revamp the governance of the sport, made 200 changes to its constitution, set up an independent Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) that is a world first in sport, and suspended the Russian Member Federation."

Banned for the Rio Olympics, Russia's suspension continues as a taskforce chaired by independent expert Rune Andersen works with RusAF on a clear set of criteria for reinstatement.

The IAAF also noted that based on the findings of the AIU, five countries have been put on an anti-doping‘watch list’, with clear actions for remediation.

Athletics' governing body said it would write to the British parliamentary body "to explain some of the more complex aspects of anti-doping that have been misunderstood", and would seek to have all of the documents that the IAAF provided to the committee placed on the DCMS website, as some of it appeared to be missing.

Team Sky, Wiggins Under Fire

The DCMS report was critical of Team Sky's"winning clean" policy, saying that its statements that coaches and team managers were largely unaware of the methods used by the medical staff to prepare pro-cyclists for major races "seem incredible".

It said triamcinolone, the powerful corticosteroid banned in competition by WADA, was being used to prepare Bradley Wiggins, and possibly other riders supporting him, for the 2012 Tour de France.

"The purpose of this was not to treat medical need, but to improve his power to weight ratio ahead of the race," it said, claiming Wiggins benefited from the performance- enhancing properties of this drug during the race. This does not constitute a violation of the WADA code, but it does cross the ethical line that David Brailsford says he himself drew for Team Sky."

"In this case, and contrary to the testimony of David Brailsford in front of the Committee, we believe that drugs were being used by Team Sky, within the WADA rules, to enhance the performance of riders, and not just to treat medical need."

Team Sky strongly refuted any suggestion that medication has been used by riders to enhance performance. In a separate statement Wiggins, Britain's eight-time Olympic medalist, said. "I find it so sad that accusations can be made, where people can be accused of things they have never done, which are then regarded as facts. I strongly refute the claim that any drug was used without medical need."

Reported by Mark Bisson

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