POSITIVE spin is to be used by athletics administrators to counter the impact of positive drugs tests. The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) is in discussions with a leading news agency to provide broadcasters around the world with “good stories” on top athletes in an effort to rid the sport of its tainted image.
The idea is the brainchild of Helmut Digel, the IAAF vice-president, and is part of a wider strategy to keep the federation’s profile on a par with other sporting organisations such as Fifa, the world governing body of football, and the International Olympic Committee. The credibility of track and field has been hugely damaged by a regular stream of stories exposing the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes.
The Athens Olympics was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, the Greek sprinters who withdrew from the Games on the eve of competition by allegedly faking a motorcycle crash to evade drug-testers.
They maintain their innocence and the case has been referred by the IAAF to the Court for Arbitration in Sport after they were cleared by a local disciplinary committee. It is just one of a series of recent high-profile doping investigations, the most famous of which was the Balco scandal that has sucked in Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones, the former darlings of the United States team.
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Athletics has long argued that it is unfairly represented in the media because of its relatively stringent anti-doping policy. Since 1991, it is the sport in which most tests have been carried out.