Optimum Sports : Jesse Norman

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Saturday, 28 November 2015

Radcliffe Vindicated by IAAF & UKAD

Paula Radcliffe says she is relieved to have been vindicated after the IAAF and the UK Anti-Doping agency (UKAD) found her innocent of blood doping.

After media reports alleged widespread blood doping she claimed she had been implicated by a parliamentary hearing, and publicly denied cheating.

On Friday, the IAAF said the allegations were "a gross misinterpretation of raw data".

Radcliffe told the BBC: "It's a relief. It should never have come to this."

She added: "The reason I spoke out was to protect myself and protect my name. It was important that I took a stand knowing that there were other innocent athletes out there."

Then on Sky Sports Radcliffe said: "Obviously there's been damage done to my reputation and to the reputation of the sport as well.

"In the climate of things maybe people think it's not important right now, but it's important to me and the attacks made on my integrity and my credibility."

SO why did the IAAF launch an investigation.

Back in the summer The Sunday Times and German TV station ARD made allegations about doping in athletics, having obtained the results of 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes taken between 2001 and 2012.

In the wake of their reports, and subsequent comments made at a parliamentary hearing, Radcliffe, who had not been named, felt forced to go public to "categorically" deny ever blood doping.

There was also a suggestion the IAAF had not acted on suspicious tests, but on Friday athletics' world governing body dismissed claims it had ignored evidence of cheating, and completely exonerated Radcliffe.

It said she had been "accused of blood doping based on the gross misinterpretation of raw and incomplete data", and that "there are clearly plausible explanations for the values in her profile that are entirely innocent".

Speaking in September, Paula Radcliffe denies cheating

It added it could not "sit idly by while public confidence in its willingness to protect the integrity of its sport is undermined by allegations of inaction or incompetence that are based on bad scientific and legal argument".

UK Anti-Doping said that, having reviewed the data on Radcliffe that the IAAF had shared with UKAD, it had concluded "there is no case to answer".

UKAD added: "The data does not provide any evidence that any anti-doping rule violation proceedings should be brought."

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

Radcliffe Reacts to Jesse Norman

Paula Radcliffe has "categorically" denied any form of cheating in a statement following questions raised during a parliamentary select committee "effectively implicated" her in the Sunday Times' allegations of blood doping in athletics.

Jesse Norman MP suggested winners and medallists at the London Marathon and "potentially British athletes" were under suspicion.

Radcliffe was not specifically named.

But she is a three-time London Marathon winner and the only British athlete since 1996 to triumph at the event.

Following the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing, she issued a statement saying she was "devastated" her name had been "linked to these wide-ranging accusations".

The Sunday Times published data from 5,000 athletes, which it had reviewed by scientists and said revealed an "extraordinary extent of cheating".

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) called the allegations "sensationalist and confusing" and denied it had failed in its duty to carry out effective blood testing.

Radcliffe said she had the "greatest respect" for people "responsibly trying to uncover cheating", but added she was "profoundly disappointed that the cloak of parliamentary privilege" had been used to tarnish her reputation, without recourse.

She said: "I have campaigned long and hard throughout my career for a clean sport. I have publicly condemned cheats and those who aid them. These accusations threaten to undermine all I have stood and competed for, as well as my hard-earned reputation.

"By linking me to allegations of cheating, damage done to my name and reputation can never be fully repaired, no matter how untrue I know them to be."

Radcliffe, who also won the New York Marathon three times and the Chicago Marathon, retired from competitive athletics this year following a persistent foot injury.

She said she "wrestled long and hard with a desire to speak out" following the initial publication of the joint Sunday Times and ARD/WDR investigation of 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes between 2001 and 2012.

She said she had wanted to "fully explain any fluctuations" in her blood data, but was advised she would risk her name being connected with "false allegations".

"As a result of today's parliamentary hearing I can no longer maintain my silence," she added.