It has been another horrible week for athletics following the weekend allegations in the Sunday Times about the extent of doping in the sport.
Experts enlisted by the newspaper who studied data leaked from the IAAF, said the blood test results of one in seven athletes were “highly suggestive of doping”.
The sport’s world governing body suggested the analysis was sensationalist, but their response barely dimmed the suspicion of a cover-up which raises the question as to whether you could even believe that wonderful sport we saw at the London 2012 Olympics.
As British miler Andy Baddeley said in response to the weekend report: “Doping seems to be so widespread that it’s difficult to prove you’re clean.”
However, it should be pointed out that it is not just the announcement that he is to become a father for the fourth time that has made it a good week for Mo Farah.
His continued alliance with Alberto Salazar will continue to raise questions, as will the suggestion that he apparently did not hear drug testers bang on the door of his Teddington home for an hour in 2011 – even though he was inside.
However, the evidence has begun to stack in his favour during the past week, with firstly UK Athletic finding “no evidence of impropriety” on his part.
However it is the leaked data which suddenly suggests that Farah’s double Olympic triumph and other achievements in recent years may be even more remarkable than we thought.
While it was suggested that a third of medals awarded in endurance events over the past decade were won by athletes with “suspicious” tests, Farah was not among them.
It’s stretching it to say that there can be any winners when athletics is dragged through the mud.
But, fresh from the tremendous reception he received after winning the 3,000m at the Anniversary Games, there will at least be relief for Farah that the press spotlight is likely to be shifted elsewhere for a while.
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