IAAF Files Leaked: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction

The sports world is facing a massive potential doping scandal linking athletes from around the world with suspect blood tests.

Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnott of the Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD/WRD (via Dan Roan of BBC Sport), reported leaked files from the International Association of Athletics Federations provided access to 5,000 athletes accounting for more than 12,000 blood tests that could be deemed questionable.

Continue for updates.

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28 Athletes Disciplined for Adverse Test Results

Tuesday, Aug. 11

BBC Sport reported, per the IAAF, that "28 athletes who competed at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships have returned "adverse findings" from retested samples."

The report noted most of the athletes involved are retired or inactive. 

The IAAF said in a statement, per BBC Sport, "The IAAF is provisionally suspending them and can confirm that none of the athletes concerned will be competing in Beijing."

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IAAF Files Show Questionable Blood Tests

Saturday, Aug. 1

Per Calvert and Arbuthnott, the files leaked by a whistleblower were reviewed by Robin Parisotto and Michael Ashenden, whom the report calls two of the "foremost anti-doping experts," and reveal many "suspicious" drug tests.

The report also notes "there can be various reasons for abnormal blood samples other than performance enhancing drugs. Illness, altitude training and pregnancy can all influence values."

"Never have I seen such an alarmingly abnormal set of blood values," Parisotto said. "So many athletes appear to have doped with impunity, and it is damning that the IAAF appears to have idly sat by and let this happen."

Ashenden went so far as to say these leaked files equate athletics with "cycling during the Lance Armstrong era."

Parisotto and Ashenden claim the documents reveal 146 medals won in endurance events at the Olympics and World Championships from 2001-12 were won by athletes who have "recorded suspicious tests" and over 800 athletes recorded blood tests described by one expert as being "highly suggestive of doping or at the very least abnormal."

Additionally, 10 medals won by athletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London were won by athletes who have "dubious test results," and there were some finals in which every athlete who medaled recorded a "suspicious blood test."

Russia is cited as having more than 80 percent of medals won by athletes from the country featuring suspicious tests.

Roan's article does not the IAAF claims the whistleblower wouldn't have been able to know if follow-up drug tests were conducted. 

"The evidence is not proof of doping - but the revelations will raise more serious questions over whether the sport is doing enough to combat cheating ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Beijing later this month," Roan wrote. 

Doping has become a focal point for sports in recent years, with professional and amateur groups implementing additional and aggressive testing. These reported leaks can shake the foundation of athletics around the world to its very core.