WADA 'disturbed' by new doping scandal

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Craig Reedie said Sunday he was "disturbed" by the accusations from German broadcaster ARD and Britain's "Sunday Times" newspaper that one-third of the medals in track-and-field endurance races had been won by athletes with suspicious doping tests.

"These are wild allegations, wide allegations, and we'll have to check them out…as quickly as possible," Reedie told reporters at an International Olympic Committee meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

The two media outlets said they had gained access to the results of 12,000 blood tests taken from 5,000 athletes over a 10-year period from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) database. Russian and Kenyan athletes had the largest number of athletes accused of cheating in the reports, which come just three weeks ahead of the athletics world championships in Beijing.

Reedie said the findings would be turned over to WADA's independent commission for investigation, but also stressed that the claims were unproven.

"Athletes are innocent until proven guilty…It is wrong just to make any kind of assumption on allegations in the media," he said, adding that they could "once again shake the foundation of clean athletes worldwide."

WADA's independent commission is already investigating allegations aired by ARD in December 2014, which pointed to systemic doping and cover-ups in Russian athletics. The commission is expected to report back to WADA's president on that matter by the end of the year.

Doping with impunity

"ARD" and the "Sunday Times" asked Australian doping experts Michael Ashenden and Robin Parisotto to review the IAAF blood tests, which were taken between 2001 and 2012. They reported that 800 athletes registered blood values that are considered suspicious by WADA standards.

"Never have I seen such an alarmingly abnormal set of blood values," Parisotto said. "So many athletes appear to have doped with impunity."

The report also found that 146 medals - including 55 golds - in events ranging from the 800 meters to the marathon at the Olympics and world championships were won by athletes who recorded suspicious tests.

"In one event the entire podium was comprised of athletes, who in my opinion had most probably doped at some point in their career," Ashenden told ARD.

The IAAF defended its drug-testing procedures, and said it was reviewing the material reported by the two media outlets.

"Any other approach, in particular the use of data collected over a longer period for different purposes, with different objectives and with different methods of analysis, is nothing more than speculation," the association said in a statement.

nm/ng (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)