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."

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Coe in Russia Friday13th Deadine

Lord Coe has given Russia until Friday to respond to WADA's accusations of systematic doping and has vowed to do everything he can to fix athletics.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has recommended Russia be banned from international competition upon accusations of doping, cover-ups and extortion in an intensive report released in Geneva on Monday.

The report identified ''systemic failures'' within the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) and the Russian athletics federation (ARAF) to ''prevent or diminish the possibility of an effective anti-doping programme''.

The IAAF president Coe pledged to fix these failures and restore trust in the sport, but he insisted they must wait for Russia's official response before possibly suspending the nation.

He said: "I've asked the council to convene on Friday, which we will, to review their response and then look at the next steps.

"This is a matter for my council. Sanctions could follow. It is possible we could end up with a suspension on Friday. 

"We need to hear properly what answer the Russian Athletics Federation gives us to the welter of allegations. I want to wait for the official response from the federation. They are our member.

Jo Pavey & Paula Radcliffe amongs the names to give their thoughts on WADA's report

"Clearly we need to absorb the report, but the broader point here is that if any of our anti-doping processes have failed, or our internal governance has failed, and clearly rogue elements are involved, then I will fix it."

Lord Coe's predecessor Lamine Diack is currently being investigated over an alleged payment of more than one million euros to cover up doping offences by Russian athletes.

Coe heaped praise on Diack when he succeeded him in August and said he was ready to face criticism himself now that allegations of corruption have reached the office in which he now presides.

"The allegations made about certain people were deeply shocking and the scale and extent of the report is equally shocking. If those allegations are proven then it's extremely damaging," he said.

"I realise I'm going to come in for some criticism for the remarks I made within moments of winning the right to be in the position I'm in today. That does, of course, presuppose that I made those remarks with a list of allegations sitting in front of me. I didn't.

"Athletes have to know that they have in me and my council colleagues a group of people who are in their corner. My responsibility now is to create a sport, and systems, that are accountable, responsible and responsive, and I will do everything I can to fix it.

"I've been in this sport for nearly 50 years. You'd have to be unhuman not to be shocked by this. But I also have the responsibility now to put in place whatever systems we need to have to make sure we never return to this place again.

"I have to have confidence I can do that. I am in a position now to make change and I welcome the chance to do that."

Interpol, which is based in Lyon, has said the investigation involving sports officials and athletes suspected of doping cover-ups will be led by French prosecutors, who are already investigating Diack.

The International Olympic Commitee's ethics team has called for Diack to be suspended as an honorary member, and said: "This is a deeply shocking report and very saddening for the world of sport."

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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.

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