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| | Monday, 8 April, 2002, 15:37 GMT 16:37 UK Test all athletes, says marathon chief The Marathon's boss backs blanket testing Blanket blood testing is the only way to keep athletics free from drugs, the London Marathon's race director has warned. For the first time, blood samples will be taken from every elite athlete in one of the strongest fields the event has seen. And race director David Bedford believes that mandatory screening for all top runners will help the marathon avoid the drugs scandals that have tainted other events. "If track and field had taken this a bit more seriously it would not have been so affected," he told BBC Sport Online.
The International Amateur Athletics Federation's most recent high profile controversy came at last year's world championships, when Olga Yegerova won the 10,000m depite having failed an EPO test earlier in the year. The marathon's status as athletics' ultimate endurance test could tempt competitors into using the banned hormone. EPO improves stamina and delays the onset of fatigue. And the World Anti-Doping Agency announced in December that the current urine test for the drug would soon be obsolete. Bedford said: "The fight against the possibility of athletes using drugs will go on and on, and we are moving with the times. "We are driving the fight," he added. "We now have about 20 of the world's top marathons in agreement on the principle that there should be blood testing to ensure we maintain the marathon's integrity within our sport.
Bedford's calls for a clampdown coincide with the marathon debut of Paula Radcliffe, who led athletes' protests against Yegerova at the world championships. The London race director said of the blood tests: "A large majority of the athletes have been very supportive - Haile Gebrselassie, Paul Tergat and Paula Radcliffe to name just three." And he added: "We believe that the fact that athletes have signed contracts knowing there is testing here shows the marathon is far less afflicted than other sports. "We intend to keep it that way." | |
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