We don’t trust IAAF on doping, athletes cry out

World athletics governing body IAAF came under more pressure yesterday, as a group of concerned athletes claimed that the IAAF cannot be trusted on the doping organisation.

This was after the body strongly denied accusations of sloppy handling of dope case by the media in Germany and England.

One country many colours: Nigerian athletes in a recent international event.

The athletes led by Olympic discus champion, Robert Harting released a video message criticizing track and field’s world governing body over recent doping allegations.

“Dear IAAF, we cannot trust you anymore,” Harting, who is from Germany, said in the English-language video posted on YouTube. “We have to act now.”

Harting, a three-time world champion who won Olympic gold in London in 2012, has been a vocal critic of the International Association of Athletics Federations. He declined to be considered for the IAAF’s Athlete of the Year award in 2014 because he did not want to appear alongside candidates who have served doping bans, including U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin.

The video comes after reports by German broadcaster ARD and The Sunday Times newspaper in Britain that blood doping was rampant in the sport, citing leaked test results from an IAAF database. The IAAF has strongly rejected suggestions that it had failed to follow up on the suspicious tests and that it wasn’t doing enough to uncover doping.

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.

“You damage our sport,” U.S. shot putter Eric Werskey says in the video.

Harting’s girlfriend, discus thrower Julia Fischer, holds up a handwritten message saying: “You broke my childhood dreams.”

“You put money over athletes,” says hammer thrower Kathrin Klaas, while 800-meter runner Robin Schembera adds: “I want to run against clean athletes, not monsters.”