‘Pace of change too slow’ in athletics, UKA boss tells IAAF
UK Athletics (UKA) chairman, Ed Warner says the sport must do more to commit to providing doping-free competition.
The governing body has launched a ‘Clean Athletics’ brand, a year after its 14-point manifesto that aimed to create a new era of clean athletics.
The sport has been dogged by damaging headlines and reports highlighting Russian state-sponsored doping.
Warner noted a “seismic change” in athletics’ response to doping in 2016, but said “too much denial” remained.
He said the “pace of change remains too slow”.
Warner said the stances taken by athletics’ governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) could be seen as a “turning point”.
Russians have been banned by the IAAF from competing since November 2015, while the IPC banned Russia from taking part in the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) left decisions on whether Russians could compete at the Rio Olympics to individual sporting federations.
“There is still much to do,” Warner added.
“There remains too much denial in too many quarters, but we will continue to work to make progress in the areas we can.”
Last year, Warner said it was time for “radical reform”.
Among UK Athletics’ (UKA) proposals were plans to reset world records, introduce longer bans for drug cheats and a public register of tested athletes.
As part of its rebrand, UKA’s anti-doping department will be renamed ‘Clean Athletics’ and the sport’s governing body suggests other anti-doping agencies should do the same to “emphasise the ultimate purpose of their activities”.
Warner added Clean Athletics “would urge other sports to follow suit to remain focused on what they want to achieve”.
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