adminTHE UK Anti-Doping chief executive, Nicole Sapstead, wants all international athletics federations to use biological passports in the campaign against drug use in the sport. Sapstead was speaking in the wake of new doping allegations in The Sunday Times which focused on marathon running, among them claims that seven London Marathon winners in a 12-year period recorded suspicious blood scores.
The World Anti-Doping Agency said last week it will investigate the claims of the German broadcaster ARD/WDR and The Sunday Times, who gained access to a database containing more than 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes.
It has been alleged that more than 800 athletes – and a third of all medallists in endurance events at recent Olympics and World Championships – had suspicious blood test results which were not followed up by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
The biological passport is an electronic record for each athlete, containing the results of individual urine and blood tests, and can track a performer’s profile, establish “normal” levels and detect possible variations.
But biological passports are not used by all countries and that is something Sapstead believes should be addressed.
“There are some international federations that don’t use the international biological passport and we want to see that brought in all over the world as that’s a great anti-doping tool,” Sapstead said.
“We’re supporting Wada in their efforts to get other countries to do what they should be doing because I think there are some that should be held to account.”
The London Marathon chief executive, Nick Bitel, said race organisers are “very concerned” by claims that seven wins and 13 other medals out of 24 men’s and women’s races in London between 2001 and 2012 allegedly involved suspicious blood scores. — The Guardian
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