Kuala Lumpur, Aug 3 (IANS) International Olympics Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach on Monday said they will take action with zero tolerance against any athlete if found guilty in the latest doping allegations rocking the sport of track and field.
Bach said it is up to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to investigate the allegations.
“If there should be cases involving results at Olympic Games, the IOC will react with zero tolerance with our usual policy,” Bach was quoted as saying by BBC.
German broadcaster ARD and The Sunday Times newspaper in Britain said they gained access to the results of blood tests involving 5,000 athletes. The leaked files came from the database of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
The report found that 146 medals including 55 golds in disciplines ranging from 800 meters to the marathon at the Olympics and World Championships were won by athletes who have recorded suspicious tests.
The Sunday Times said that 10 medals at the 2012 London Olympics were won by athletes with suspicious results and that in some finals every athlete in medal positions had recorded a dubious blood test.
More than 800 athletes – one in seven of those named in the files – recorded blood tests described by one of the experts as “highly suggestive of doping or at the very least abnormal”.
The data is not proof of doping – but the revelations raise more serious questions over whether the sport is doing enough to combat cheating.