THREE JAMAICAN athletes are said to be among 225 athletes from 39 countries who, according to a documentary aired on German television on Monday, returned suspicious samples that were allegedly covered up by track and field’s governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), according to a report published in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday.
A spokesman for the IAAF has said that some of the information aired in the documentary concerning the allegedly ‘suspicious’ samples, is misleading.
The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday that also among the athletes were three Britons, 58 Russians, and 25 Kenyans. According to the Telegraph, the list also contained the names of “three London 2012 champions and scores of gold medallists from other Olympics and major championships”.
The list also reportedly contained the names of “current and former world record holders and winners of marathons around the world; competitors over distances from 400 metres upwards on track, road, and cross-country as well as multi-event athletes; and several athletes banned for doping”.
A breakdown of the countries that the athletes are from shows that in addition to the three from Jamaica, there were four athletes from the United States, two from Mexico, and one each from Costa Rica and Guatemala.
President of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) Dr Warren Blake said he was not aware of the contents of the documentary and, as such, was unable to comment. Victor Lopez, president of the North American, Central American, and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC), was unavailable when The Gleaner tried to reach him at his office in Puerto Rico.
IAAF spokesman Nick Davies has come out in defence of the sport’s governing body.
In a letter responding to queries from track and field website Letsrun.com, Davies acknowledged that the documentaries have provided some evidence that can be used by the IAAF Ethics Committee in its investigations but said some of the information in the documentary was stolen from the IAAF and is misleading.
“I am shocked to note, in the third episode of the documentary, use of selected information by what was named as a “former member of the IAAF Medical Commission” to imply, completely unfairly, that 150 athletes had suspicious blood values and were not subject to proper targeted testing afterwards,” he said. (Gleaner)
