The IAAF have suspended 28 athletes provisionally following “retesting” of blood results. The yet unnamed athletes are said to be mostly retired.
While it has been confirmed that no British athletes are among the 28 “provisionally” suspended, the suspensions may result in some medals being reappropriated to British athletes. The doping contraventions are said to cover the World Championships between the years 2005 and 2007.
The IAAF released a statement arguing that the result reaffirms their commitment to preventing cheating in sport, it said:
“A large majority of the 28 are retired, some are athletes who have already been sanctioned, and only very few remain active in sport.
“The IAAF is provisionally suspending them and can confirm that none of the athletes concerned will be competing in Beijing.
“The re-analysis of these samples has been ongoing for some time, and was commenced well before the most recent allegations made against the IAAF by the ARD and The Sunday Times.
“The findings reconfirm, yet again, the commitment of the IAAF to target and uncover all cheating in the sport, no matter how long it takes.”
The IAAF have said that they are not able to name the athletes at this time for legal reasons.
Jessica Ennis-Hill has commented on the recent IAAF doping allegations, describing them as “[damaging] for the sport as a whole”.
Among other claims, the report alleged that the Sheffield-born athlete lost out in competition to athletes who were under suspicion for doping.
