Sergey Bubka, the IAAF vice president, has revealed he is “deeply shocked” at the doping allegations against Russian athletes.
The Ukrainian pole vault great has called for a “zero tolerance policy” towards banned substances and said punishments for those found guilty of doping should not only hit the athletes involved, but their entourage as well.
“We should fight the criminal networks, which make millions on doping and we should punish also doctors, judges, coaches and others if they are involved in doping and corruption,” he said.
“This is not an easy task due to different laws in different countries. But without fighting the whole network, one cannot win the fight against doping.”
Last week a German television documentary presented what it claimed was evidence of systematic doping among Russian athletes, while it also alleged that corruption extended beyond Russia and implicated the sport’s world governing body the IAAF in covering up the abuse.
The Russian Athletics Federation claims the allegations are untrue, while the IAAF’s independent ethics commission is already investigating the allegations and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has revealed it will follow suit.
Bubka, an IOC executive board member, said: “This is undoubtedly a challenging time for athletics.
“As a vice president of the IAAF, I am deeply shocked and understand that we need to act quickly and transparently now in order to protect the integrity of our sport. Very serious allegations have been made in the German (ARD/WDR) documentary involving such a large number of athletes and officials.
“I believe in a zero tolerance policy against doping and we have to consistently and relentlessly fight against what is the biggest threat to sport in the 21st century.”
The IAAF said it had seen a second ARD documentary broadcast on Sunday which also included allegations of doping in Russian athletics and concerning individuals from outside Russia.
It said an English transcript of the latest documentary would be forwarded to the ethics commission.