IAAF denies blocking doping study’s publication

Sebastian Coe, a vice president of the International Association of Athletics Federation. (Stephen Hindley/AP)

MONACO — The governing body of track and field has denied accusations that it suppressed the publication of a study in which a third of top athletes surveyed admitted to using banned performance-enhancing techniques.

British newspaper The Sunday Times claimed that the authors of the survey say the IAAF blocked publication of the study, conducted at the 2011 world championship in Daegu, South Korea. The newspaper says the survey concluded that 29-34 per cent of 1,800 competitors at the championships had violated anti-doping rules in the previous 12 months.

The IAAF says it has "never vetoed publication of this article" and that it had "serious reservations as to the interpretation of the results made by the research group," which was from the University of Tubingen in Germany.

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