London (dpa) - Double Olympic champion and vice president of the
athletics governing body IAAF Sebastian Coe has described the time
after strong doping
allegations were made against Russia as "a ghastly week for athletics."
"In the 40 years I have been involved in athletics there have been big moments, Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, Balco. This is up there," he told BBC radio on Sunday.
Coe is standing for election as IAAF president next year and has already declared his intention to bring reforms if successful. However, he demanded the allegations be investigated as soon as possible.
"We have to bring this tawdry episode to a close as quickly as we can," the 1980 and 1984 Olympic 1500-metre champion said.
The German state broadcaster ARD ran a documentary, 'Top secret doping - how Russia makes its winners', on December 3, which alleged Russian sport is plagued by systematic doping, covering up of tests and corruption.
Coe said the allegations, if proven, would have as big an impact on the sport as Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson losing his 100-metre Olympic gold medal in 1988 and multi-Olympic and world championship winner Marian Jones being sentenced to prison in 2008 in relation to doping.
The IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) are looking into the claims made in the documentary.
Coe stated he had not seen the list of blood samples referred to in the programme and called on the producers to fully disclose their information.
"I don't know about the existence of the list," he said. "The IAAF does not know what it contains and whether it has any veracity at all. If there is more info out there then please let us know.
"If the German journalist thinks our organization is sullied - I can understand why people are questioning it - we would take a WADA official along.
"My instinct is that the list won't be central to the allegations, there are federations who may have been involved in systematic doping and officials have been involved.
allegations were made against Russia as "a ghastly week for athletics."
"In the 40 years I have been involved in athletics there have been big moments, Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, Balco. This is up there," he told BBC radio on Sunday.
Coe is standing for election as IAAF president next year and has already declared his intention to bring reforms if successful. However, he demanded the allegations be investigated as soon as possible.
"We have to bring this tawdry episode to a close as quickly as we can," the 1980 and 1984 Olympic 1500-metre champion said.
The German state broadcaster ARD ran a documentary, 'Top secret doping - how Russia makes its winners', on December 3, which alleged Russian sport is plagued by systematic doping, covering up of tests and corruption.
Coe said the allegations, if proven, would have as big an impact on the sport as Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson losing his 100-metre Olympic gold medal in 1988 and multi-Olympic and world championship winner Marian Jones being sentenced to prison in 2008 in relation to doping.
The IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) are looking into the claims made in the documentary.
Coe stated he had not seen the list of blood samples referred to in the programme and called on the producers to fully disclose their information.
"I don't know about the existence of the list," he said. "The IAAF does not know what it contains and whether it has any veracity at all. If there is more info out there then please let us know.
"If the German journalist thinks our organization is sullied - I can understand why people are questioning it - we would take a WADA official along.
"My instinct is that the list won't be central to the allegations, there are federations who may have been involved in systematic doping and officials have been involved.
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