World athletics' governing body has issued a strong response to the allegations of widespread doping within the sport.
The International Association of Athletics Federations has accused The Sunday Times and German broadcaster, ARD of "sensationalist and confusing" reporting of the blood test data that was leaked to them by a concerned whistleblower.
In a lengthy statement on the IAAF website, the organisation says: "
"The published allegations were sensationalist and confusing: the results referred to were not positive tests. In fact, ARD and The Sunday Times both admit that their evaluation of the data did not prove doping.
"• Professor Giuseppe d'Onofrio, one of the world's leading haematologists working as an expert in the field of the Athlete Biological Passport, commented: “Ethically, I deplore public comments coming from colleagues on blood data that has been obtained and processed outside of the strict regulatory framework established by WADA which is designed to ensure a complete and fair review of ABP profiles. There is no space for shortcuts, simplistic approaches or sensationalism when athletes’ careers and reputations are at stake.
"• The data on which the reports were based was not ‘secret’ – the IAAF published a detailed analysis of this data more than four years ago.
"• The Sunday Times’ story is based on the allegation that 6 specific athletes recorded suspicious results which we did not follow up. In fact, as the newspaper was told before publication, each test led to intensive follow up, as a result of which the 6 athletes were subsequently caught cheating and banned.
"• The IAAF wants to stamp out all doping in sport and welcomes greater public debate. There is no perfect system for catching drug cheats, but the IAAF has been at the forefront of drug testing for many years. Under its pioneering Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) system, more athletes have been banned for cheating by the IAAF than all other sports federations and national anti-doping agencies put together."
However, the governing body insists that the data was not secret and had been published four years ago as part of its long-term blood profiling database.
The Federation has also hit out at the suggestion that it had not used every available tool to target suspected dopers and says that it has prosecuted more drug cheats on the basis of the bio passport than all other sports combined.
It's also expressed disappointment with the comments made by world anti-doping agency, WADA as part of the media coverage.
Tonight on Off The Ball, we will be speaking to journalist Hajo Seppelt, who has been involved in the documentary on ARD.
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