Mo Farah defies IAAF, allows blood test results to be made public

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Double Olympic champion Mo Farah has allowed details of his anti-doping blood tests to be made public, despite being warned against it.

Farah is one of eight top athletes to allow their personal records to be published by The Sunday Times.

“I’m happy to do what it takes to prove I’m a clean athlete,” he told the title.

The newspaper claims the London Marathon has been won seven times in 12 years by athletes who have provided suspicious blood scores.

The newspaper last week said it, along with the German broadcaster ARD/WDR, had seen a database containing more than 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes and revealed ”the extraordinary extent of cheating by athletes at the world’s most prestigious events”.

It claimed more than 800 athletes had suspicious blood test results which were not followed up by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Athletes were last week warned against publishing their test results.

British Athletics feared releasing selective data could be “misinterpreted” and may also imply those not publishing their data were “guilty by omission”, while The Sunday Times said lawyers for the IAAF had written to the newspaper suggesting athletes were not aware of the implications of putting the data in the public domain.

Farah, whose coach Alberto Salazar was the subject of doping allegations broadcast in a BBC Panorama programme in June, and has since denied any wrongdoing, said the decision to release his results is “a personal one”.

“I’ve always said that I’m happy to do what it takes to prove I’m a clean athlete,” he said.

The newspaper, which made clear it is not suggesting that athletes who chose not to release data had recorded suspicious results, reports a total of 20 of Farah’s blood test results held on the IAAF’s database – covering June 2005 to May 2012 – are within the normal range.

Farah, 32, said: “It’s sad that these allegations have been made at all because they bring down the sport I love, where most of the athletes don’t break the rules and work really hard to achieve what they do.

“As someone who is tested all the time, I understand that it’s a big job for the authorities to do but it’s an important one as everyone – including athletes – needs to be confident that our sport is clean and fair. It is good to see the organisations investigating and I hope they can quickly get to the bottom of it.”

Joining Farah in calling for transparency are Jo Pavey, Lisa Dobriskey, Jenny Meadows, Freya Murray, Hatti Archer, Emma Jackson and Andy Baddeley.

Olympic 1500m finalist Baddeley said: “When the public and fans watch us I want them to believe in what they see. Publishing my data is the only thing I have available to me personally that is within my power to help fight for clean sport.”

British Athletics chairman Ed Warner said: “We believe that selective publication in this way could be misinterpreted. Also, it might mean that any athlete not publishing their data is somehow guilty by omission.

“We believe it is incumbent on the IAAF to demonstrate that all untoward blood test results from athletes of any nationality have been thoroughly investigated and all appropriate action taken.”

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