The current records held by European track and field athletes will be put under serious scrutiny, with a task force set up by European Athletics (EA) in order to “examine their credibility”.
Seven people will make up the task force that carry out the investigation, with EA President Sven Arne Hansen aiming to remould European athletes into “aspirational heroes” to amend the controversies brought on by systematic doping.
“Claiming a European record – after being crowned European champion – is the pinnacle of our sport in Europe.” he said. “The holders of these records should be aspirational heroes whose performances are respected and recognised as beyond question by their fellow athletes and the fans of our sport.
“They should be 100 per cent believable and credible. However, there is a view that this is currently not the case with some of the performances on the European record list, and so I have ordered this review.”
Records set by Russian athletes, which account for 15 European records, will be a big target for the taskforce, with Russia still banned from competing internationally due to their state-sponsored doping programme that was operated from 2011 to 2015.
Over 1,000 athletes across 30 sports are said to have benefited from this programme, prompting the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to use up-to-date detection methods to re-investigate samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
However, European Athletics will also be targeting records set by other former Soviet countries such as East Germany, with many records, such as the one set by Marita Koch in the 400m, said to be the result of huge state-inspired doping programme.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) will also be involved in the investigation, with Hansen stating they:”will monitor this work closely before deciding on any actions at the world level.”
The task force is set to report its findings in September 2017, using input from the media, athletes and members of the public to “ensure maximum debate and transparency before they arrive at any conclusions.”
