LONDON — Seven London Marathon winners in 12 years have recorded blood level results which suggested they may have been doping, the Sunday Times newspaper reported in the latest set of allegations to have rocked athletics. It reported that 32 winners of major city marathons — London, Boston, Chicago, New York, Berlin and Tokyo — should have faced investigation over potential blood doping following test results — a quarter of the overall total.
The newspaper did not provide dates for when its statistics allegedly apply or identify the athletes involved.
London Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel said in a statement Sunday that organizers were “very concerned” by the allegations and said the race had a “zero tolerance policy” on doping.
“We believe there are people in our sport who are cheating and everyone has a part to play to protect those who are not,” he said.
“We continue to be at the forefront of anti-doping measures for marathon runners as we are determined to make marathon running a safe haven from doping but we cannot do it all on our own and rely heavily on the IAAF.”
In a separate development Britain's Mo Farah — who won Olympic gold medals in 2012 for the 5,000m and 10,000m — is one of eight athletes who have agreed to release their own blood test data, the newspaper reported.
His coach Alberto Salazar has faced doping allegations but both he and Farah deny any wrongdoing.
“The decision to release my results is a personal one — I've always said that I'm happy to do what it takes to prove that I'm a clean athlete,” he was quoted as saying.
Last week's publication by the Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD of evidence of hundreds of allegedly suspicious blood tests has drawn a robust response from officials.
The governing body for athletics, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), has strongly rejected the claims and said the two experts at the center of the allegations were “naive” and had used “incomplete data.”
Sebastian Coe, the former British Olympian and candidate to be president of the IAAF, said last week the claims were “a declaration of war.” The World Anti-Doping Agency said Friday it would “urgently” investigate the allegations.
Organizers ‘very concerned'
London Marathon organizers are “very concerned” by claims in a British Sunday newspaper that the race was won seven times over a 12-year period by athletes who recorded suspicious blood scores.
In a statement Sunday, London Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel said organizers are “determined to make marathon running a safe haven from doping but we cannot do it all on our own.”
He added that the London Marathon pays for the testing of athletes but does not administer the tests. This is done by the UK Anti Doping Agency (UKAD), Bitel said.
The statement also said organizers would seek repayment of prize money from athletes who fail doping tests.
UKAD chief executive Nicole Sapstead defended her organization's biological passport system while insisting on her duty to protect the athletes' right to privacy.
“UK Anti-Doping advises any athlete that it is their choice as to whether to share personal medical information, which has been collected during the anti-doping process,” she said. “UKAD will never disclose or discuss individual athlete data or personal information.”
Earlier this week, former Russian marathoner Liliya Shobukhova's doping ban was extended by 14 months to March 2016 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Shobukhova's two-year suspension by the Russian athletics federation was to end in January, but the IAAF appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, citing “aggravating circumstances.”
She was originally guilty of abnormal biological passport values. The Sunday Times claimed that she “recorded extreme blood scores for nine years before action was finally taken against her. Two of her scores had a billion-to-one chance of being natural.”
CAS extended her ban, and ratified the initial agreement to disqualify all of her results from Oct. 9, 2009, including wins in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Chicago marathons, and a 2010 win and 2011 second place in the London Marathon. Those results helped her to the major marathon series titles in 2010 and 2012. — Agencies
