IAAF must expand fight against doping says Hansen
Tuesday 18 August 2015 14:19, UK
European Athletics chief Svein Arne Hansen has called on the new IAAF president and council to put doping at the top of their agenda for the next four years.
Either Britain's Lord Coe or Ukraine's Sergey Bubka will be elected president of the sport's governing body at the IAAF Congress in Beijing on Wednesday along with a fresh council.
"It is clear our members feel there needs to be more proactive communication from the IAAF," said Norwegian Hansen.
"They also say that if there is anything more our sport can do to get a handle on this issue it should be done as soon as possible.
"Doping in sport is a complex challenge and I think we need to expand the fight and our dialogue beyond new rules and the number of doping control tests carried out," added Hansen, who will serve on the new council as European representative.
Athletics has been rocked by doping allegations in recent weeks and by suggestions the IAAF does not do enough to tackle the problem.
Education is important, said Hansen - an advocate of lifetime bans for doping offenders - but not the complete solution.
"I think we should also look at the structure and programmes of the fight against doping in each country to understand how serious they are and the resources they have available," he said.
Double Olympic 1500m champion and London 2012 chairman Coe, 58, is bidding to succeed Lamine Diack for the IAAF presidency, along with pole vault legend Bubka.
In his manifesto, Coe said he was keen to increase anti-doping resources in "this battle for our sport's integrity".
