Team GB lose 4x100m Olympic silver after Ujah doping confirmed
2022
British athlete supplied with drugs, according to court documents in US
15 December 2023
A male British Olympic athlete was supplied with banned drugs by an American therapist who is facing 10 years in jail, according to court papers filed in New York.
In May, Eric Lira became the first defendant to be charged under a new US law introduced in the wake of Russia's state-backed doping scandals.
He pleaded guilty to supplying performance-enhancing drugs to Olympic athletes.
But a sentencing document filed in the Southern District of New York has given details of other athletes and coaches implicated in the case, with an unnamed British competitor also referred to.
"Lira separately met with a third Olympic athlete who competed on behalf of the United Kingdom ('Athlete-3') multiple times in the Summer of 2021 for the purpose of providing him with PEDs [performance-enhancing drugs]," claims US attorney Damian Williams, in the document, which has been seen by the BBC.
Sebastian Coe rebukes blood-doping claims
LONDON — 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, 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,” said Coe, an IAAF vice president. “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.
“Nobody should underestimate the anger at the way our sport has been portrayed,” said Coe, who is a candidate for IAAF president in elections this month. “The fightback has to start here. We cannot be portrayed as a sport that is in any way dragging our heels.”
The media reports examined the results of 12,000 blood tests involving 5,000 athletes from 2001 to 2012, and concluded that 800 were suspicious. The reports said that 146 medals — including 55 golds — in disciplines ranging from the 800 meters to the marathon at the Olympics and world championships were won by athletes who have recorded suspicious tests.
“The use of that database, however it got into their possession, displayed either breathtaking ignorance or a level of malevolence around a set of readings you can simply cannot extrapolate beyond,” Coe said. “The idea that my sport sat there either covering up wrongdoing or just being incompetent could not be wider of the mark.”
The ARD and Sunday Times reports were based on analysis of the leaked test results by Australian anti-doping scientists Robin Parisotto and Michael Ashenden.
Coe questioned their credentials, saying, “These so-called experts — give me a break.”
The IAAF has a commission of three independent experts who have tested and checked thousands of blood samples, Coe said.
“I know who I would believe,” he said.
Coe is competing against pole-vault great Sergei Bubka to succeed Lamine Diack as IAAF president. The election will be held in Beijing on Aug. 19, ahead of the world championships, Aug. 22-30.