WADA chief warns against 'reckless' doping claims

World Anti-Doping Agency director general David Howman said Wednesday it would be "reckless to draw conclusions on the basis of limited information" following allegations of mass doping that have rocked the world of athletics.

The doping claims emerged after the Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD published evidence of hundreds of allegedly suspicious blood tests following the leak of an IAAF database of over 12,000 blood tests between 2001 and 2012.

"It would be reckless to draw conclusions on the basis of limited information," Howman warned in a statement as he assured athletes that the leaked database did not originate from WADA's Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS).

"WADA condemns the leak of athlete's confidential information and wants to assure athletes of the world that they can have full confidence in ADAMS in protecting their personal data," said Howman.

"While WADA has not been granted access to the leaked database in question, we can confirm that the great majority of the data pre-dates the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), which was introduced in 2009.
"WADA would also like to reassure clean athletes that atypical blood data, which may appear within this database, is not necessarily indicative of doping," said Howman.

"The strength of the ABP is that it measures data over time, aligned with WADA's rules governing the ABP," he continued.

ADAMS is an online data management tool launched in 2005 that allows athlete data entry and storage.

Only restricted personnel within Anti-Doping Organizations have access to the data.
Source: AFP