Paula Radcliffe, world marathon record holder and one of Britain’s most popular athletes, has been cleared by the IAAF of any allegation of doping.

Athletics’ world governing body offered a complete defence of Radcliffe yesterday amid a robust rebuttal of claims that it had ignored evidence of drug cheating by leading athletes for more than a decade.

The IAAF has sent a detailed response to British authorities, saying the allegations that they sat “idly by” amid a scandal were based on “inaccurate and unfounded scientific and legal argument.”

The vindication left the now-retired 41-year-old Radcliffe, one of the sport’s all-time endurance running greats, delighted but insistent that her reputation had been damaged by the ordeal she had faced since her name was linked with doping allegations.

“We want to eradicate doping from our sport but we can never put any innocent athlete through what I had to go through this summer,” Radcliffe told Sky Sports.

The IAAF’s defence of Radcliffe features in its long response to the British Parliament’s Culture, Media And Sport select committee hearing at which Members of Parliament discussed the doping allegations aired by broadcaster ARD and the Sunday Times.

Journalists had obtained a database of athletes’ blood tests over an 11-year period and concluded, after an examination by two experts, that it contained hundreds of suspicious results that the IAAF should have acted on.

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