LAGOS – The Presidential Candidate of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Sebastian Coe, on Monday labelled Russian doping saga as worst in history.
According to ‘Inside Games,’ an online portal for news and event, IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency are currently investigating allegations of a cover-up of systematic doping in Russia.
The portal alleged that there was an accusation against a number of Russian athletes from a German TV investigation broadcast.
It said that since then, Valentin Balakhnichev, President of Russian Athletics Federation had stepped down from his position as IAAF treasurer.
The portal said that there were claims that a list that named 150 athletes with suspicious blood results taken from 2006 to 2008 existed.
“With a high-profile athlete from Coe’s native Great Britain said to be among them,’’ it said.
According to it, Coe, a former two-time Olympic 1500m champion and IAAF vice-president since 2011, admitted the latest in long line of doping allegations were ghastly for the sport.
“In the past 40 or so years in athletics, there have been big moments this can be one of the worst if not the worst.
“Ben Johnson in 1988 and Marion Jones are the biggest but this can turn out to be the worst and nobody is remotely suggesting these allegations are not serious,” the portal quoted Coe as saying.
Turning his attention to the reported list, the portal also quoted Coe as insisting that he had not seen it, but urged for it to be handed over for further investigation.
“The simple answer is I don’t know, the IAAF does not know what this list contains and whether it is a list that has any veracity at all.
“What we understand is that this German journalist may have shown some people in the press a list of names.
“But nobody knows what this list is and the suspicion is that this list is not what this German journalist is purporting it to be,” the portal quoted Coe as saying. (NAN)
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