The whistleblower who sparked the global investigation into doping in Russian athletics has called for the sport's authorities to also look at countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia
London: The whistleblower who sparked the global investigation into doping in Russian athletics has called for the sport's authorities to also look at countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.
ADVERTISEMENT
Andrey Baranov, a Russian sports agent, wrote a signed deposition to world athletics' governing body the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) in April 2014 outlining bribery and extortion related to doping in Russian athletics.
It led to the bombshell report published on Monday by an independent commission of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) that revealed "state-supported" doping in Russian athletics and called for the country to be suspended from the sport.
But Baranov told yesterday's edition of The Guardian newspaper: "It is wrong just to be focusing on Russia. There should be a similar investigation into countries like Kenya and Ethiopia too.
"Their top athletes are earning far more than the Russians. Yet their levels of testing are very limited."
Kenya has long faced accusations of doping and Dick Pound, the former WADA president who led the independent commission, said the country "has a real problem and has been very slow to acknowledge it".
Baranov's deposition to the IAAF revealed that officials from the Russian athletics federation had extorted 450,000 euros ($480,000) from his client, marathon-runner Liliya Shobukhova, who was banned and stripped of her titles last year due to anomalies in her biological passport.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
