The story appears on

Page A15

September 11, 2015

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeSportsAthletics

Radcliffe blasts 鈥榙ope鈥 pressure

Women鈥檚 marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe says the pressure being put on her to release her blood test data is 鈥渁lmost abuse鈥.

The 41-year-old, who retired after this year鈥檚 London Marathon a race she had won three times, said she had been implicated by a UK parliament hearing on blood doping.

They came after claims made by British newspaper the Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD last month that they had gained access to a database showing suspicious blood test results in over 800 athletes that were not followed up.

The International Association of Athletics Federations has vehemently denied those allegations, while Radcliffe has herself said that fluctuations in her own blood test scores were down to entirely innocent reasons and she had been cleared by the World Anti-Doping Agency. There have been calls for her to release in full her data in the interests of transparency, but Radcliffe 鈥 who won the marathon world title in 2005 a year after a spectacular blowout at the Athens Olympics 鈥 has been advised not to do so for fear of it being misinterpreted.

鈥淭hat is going against the advise and the request of the governing bodies of our sport, of WADA,鈥 Radcliffe, who set her world best time in 2003, said.

When it was pointed out to her that it was her reputation on the line, she said: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 need to do that 鈥 I know that I鈥檓 clean.

鈥淚 am not being forced and pushed and almost abused into giving a knee-jerk reaction to something that goes against other people who I trust and who are asking me at this moment to put my trust in them and to stand with them to protect a lot of the other innocent athletes, because I do not want to see another innocent athlete be put through what I鈥檝e been put through.鈥


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend