SYDNEY — If you were ever looking for a victim of the scourge of blood doping in athletics, it would be hard to go past Australian race walker Jared Tallent. The 30-year-old finished second in the 50 kilometer walking events at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics behind competitors who were subsequently found guilty of using performance enhancing drugs. Track and field has been plunged into crisis this week following reports from Britain's Sunday Times newspaper and Germany's ARD/WDR broadcaster that they had obtained IAAF data that indicated suspected widespread blood doping in athletics between 2001 and 2012. The scale of the accusations came as no surprise to Tallent, who feels let down by a system that he says needs changing. “I'd have a lot more gold medals without blood doping, I don't have any at the moment,” Tallent told Reuters by telephone from his home in Adelaide Tuesday. “It's good that stuff like this is coming out, people need to know. Maybe now the sport will actually do something about it.” At Beijing in 2008, Tallent finished second behind Italian Alex Schwazer. In 2012, just before the London Olympics, Schwazer tested positive for erythropoietin, more commonly referred to as EPO, a substance which can increase the blood's oxygenation. A tearful Schwazer admitted to using EPO just before London but said he been clean in Beijing so was allowed to keep the gold medal he won in China. The 50km gold medal in London was won by Russia's Sergei Kirdyapkin, who was found guilty of doping earlier this year. Kirdyapkin was handed a three-year, two-month suspension by Russian anti-doping officials (RUSADA) that was backdated to October 2012, just after the London Olympics ended. Most of his results from 2009 were annulled but RUSADA left open a window so he could keep his Olympic gold medal. “It was absolutely ridiculous,” Tallent said. “They proved that he was doping for four years up to London but they allowed him to keep the medal. It was the biggest joke in the world.” The world governing body for athletics (IAAF) has since appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over the selective disqualification periods the Russians used, but Tallent remains furious at the whole system. Tallent wants drug cheats named and shamed, worrying that if they go unpunished, clean competitors could unfairly be tarred with the same brush. “You might get people thinking that everybody's doing it but that's not the case,” he said. “It's just unfortunate that quite a few of the successful ones are cheating.” Despite his anger, Tallent still enjoys his sport and is looking forward to taking part in his sixth world championships in Beijing later this month — particularly as Russia has said their race walkers will almost certainly not compete. — Reuters
