byLarry Eder
A hard hitting interview, with IAAF Presidential candidate Seb Coe taking a stand and making his thoughts known. Coe knows he has much to do to clean up the sport, but he also knows what the sport has been doing better than anyone else. He needs to draw a line in the sand on cheating. Life time bans, draconian punishments, swift and quiet mobile drug testing squads and we humbly suggest, a doubling or tripling of the financial support.
AP Interview: Coe calls doping allegations a ‘declaration of war’ against track and field
File – Friday, Jan. 23, 2015 file photo of Double Olympic Gold Medalist Sebastian Coe, when he attended the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon 2015 to present the trophies for the 10km run, which was held in conjunction with the marathon, in Dubai, UAE. Coe tells The Associated Press Tuesday Aug. 4, 2015, that the latest doping allegations leveled against track and field are “a declaration of war.” Coe, a vice president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, vigorously defends the IAAF’s drug-testing system and says it is time to “come out fighting” to protect the reputation of the sport. (AP Photo/Stephen Hindley, file)
By STEPHEN WILSON, AP Sports Writer
LONDON (AP) — Describing the latest doping allegations leveled against track and field as a “declaration of war,” Sebastian Coe rushed to the defense of the IAAF’s drug-testing system Tuesday and said it was time to “come out fighting” to protect the reputation of the sport.
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Coe gave his first extensive comments following reports by German and British media outlets alleging that the IAAF had failed to act on suspicious blood tests involving hundreds of athletes over a 10-year period.
“It is a declaration of war on my sport,” Coe, an IAAF vice president, told the AP. “I take pretty grave exception to that. This, for me, is a fairly seminal moment. There is nothing in our history of competence and integrity in drug-testing that warrants this kind of attack. We should not be cowering. We should come out fighting.”
Just weeks before the world championships in Beijing, the sport was thrown into turmoil after German broadcaster ARD and The Sunday Times newspaper in Britain alleged that blood doping was rampant, citing test results from an International Association of Athletics Federations database that were leaked by a whistleblower.
To read this fine interview in its’ fully intended length and manner, please go to : http://www.usnews.com/news/sports/articles/2015/08/04/coe-to-ap-track-and-field-faces-declaration-of-war
