World Athletics President, Sebastian Coe, speaks on Amusan’s whereabouts charge
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe says regardless of what the outcome is on world 100m hurdles champion and record holder, Tobi Amusan’s (12:12) whereabouts failures charge is, ‘the process does instil a level of confidence in the anti-doping movement rather than hindering it.’
Coe made the comment on Monday during a pre-championship conference call monitored in Lagos
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has charged the 26 year old with a rule violation for missing three drug tests in 12 months.
Amusan says she is appealing the charges before the start of the World Athletics Championships in less than three weeks’ time.
“The anti-doping processes that the AIU has undertaken, which I do need to remind people was at the centrepiece of my reform, was to put confidence back into the sport.
“Both (for) competitors, and (for) federations to know that the politics of these decisions was removed, that the testing was independent and, yes, whereabouts are nothing new. Whereabouts, whether in some way or another, were virtually with us,” Coe said.
“What we are trying to do is not to instil a lack of confidence. I think a lack of confidence exists, and did exist when people were questioning whether we were serious about evolving our anti-doping process.
“I think people now recognize that it doesn’t matter whether you are a world record holder, there are processes, and the whereabouts are a very important part of that,” Coe said.
Amusan is insisting that she has competed clean and that her case will be heard before the start of the championships.
“That will be a matter for the Athletics Integrity Unit. They will map the process. Tobi knows she is in that process and will have the opportunity to appeal, and that is what we have. People should be feeling like in any other way, we have systems in place; people understand what those systems are,” Coe said
