IAAF denies allegations that it did not follow up on suspicious doping tests of athletes

The ruling body of world athletics has strongly rejected suggestions that it failed to follow up on suspicious blood test results involving thousands of athletes over more than a decade.

The International Association of Athletics Federations said on Tuesday that allegations that it was negligent in following up the suspicious results were “simply false.”

“The published allegations were sensationalist and confusing: the results referred to were not positive tests,” the IAAF said in a lengthy statement.

The statement came after German broadcaster ARD and The Sunday Times newspaper in Britain said last weekend that they had obtained access to the results of 12,000 blood tests involving 5,000 athletes. The leaked files came from the IAAF database.

The reports said that 146 medals – including 55 golds – in disciplines ranging from the 800 meters to the marathon at the Olympics and world championships were won by athletes who have recorded suspicious tests.

The IAAF said it published a detailed analysis of that data more than four years ago.

A large proportion of the blood samples were collected in a period before the implementation of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) and “cannot therefore be used as proof of doping.”

Noting that “suspicion alone does not equal proof of doping,” the IAAF said “we refute outright any allegation that the IAAF did not appropriately follow up suspicious profiles which had been proactively identified through its world leading blood profiling program.”