Wiping world records will help to restore integrity, say UK Athletics
Governing body UK Athletics has called for world records to be reset in a bid to cleanse the probity of a sport which has become overshadowed by allegations of corruption.
The radical proposal is one of 14 contained within ‘A Manifesto for Clean Athletics’, which it published yesterday, and also includes lifetime bans for any athlete guilty of a serious drugs violation.
“The integrity of athletics was challenged as never before in 2015. Clean athletes and sports fans the world over have been let down. Trust in the sport is at its lowest point for decades,” said UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner.
The backdrop to the manifesto is a doping scandal which has witnessed Russia banned from international athletics amid allegations of state-sponsored misuse of drugs.
Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s independent commission, is set to announce the second part of its findings from the investigation into the IAAF and Russia on Thursday. The IAAF formally responded to the first report yesterday.
A statement read: “Only a very small number of individuals formerly associated with the IAAF are believed to have been involved in the alleged corruption.”