British middle-distance great Sebastian Coe said an independent anti-doping agency in athletics would help the sport in its battle against drug cheats.
Coe, a candidate for the presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the sport’s global governing body, said an independent body would ease the workload of both the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and national athletics associations.
“For many federations, this is a very onerous burden,” Coe told international news agency reporters in a conference call on Wednesday as he again insisted the IAAF was fully committed to weeding out blood doping and other forms of drug cheating, contrary to recent media accusations.
“It is costly; it ties them up often in expensive litigation,” Coe said. “You guys [the press] sit there not really understanding and quite rightly, questioning, the speed and length of time it takes between a positive sample and a sanction.”
“It is really important we close down at every opportunity the perception that in some way what we are doing is mired in conflict,” he said.
Coe, the Olympic 1,500m champion at the 1980 and 1984 Games, is standing against Ukrainian former pole vaulter Sergey Bubka in the race to succeed Lamine Diack as IAAF president, with an election scheduled for Wednesday next week on the eve of the World Championships in Beijing.
The vote comes against the backdrop of allegations made by Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper and German broadcaster ARD that, based on a leak from an IAAF database, a third of medals in endurance races at Olympics and world champions from 2001 to 2012 had been won by athletes with suspicious blood readings.
Coe counseled “caution” to any athletes feeling compelled to follow the example of Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion Mo Farah, who plans to publish his own blood date in a bid to show he is a clean competitor.
“I would hate them to feel they are under pressure to do this because if they don’t there is somehow an assumption they are guilty,” Coe said.
Coe also said that Justin Gatlin, one of the favorites for the 100m in Beijing — along with Usain Bolt — after running the fastest time this year (9.74 seconds) would have to be treated like any other eligible competitor even though the American, the 2004 Olympic champion, served a four-year ban from 2006 to 2010 after testing positive for testosterone.
“Justin Gatlin is eligible to compete. If you are saying to me would I rather not have athletes that have served bans competing in major championships, the answer is probably yes, but he is eligible to compete and he should be given the respect as a competitor who is eligible to compete,” Coe said.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was