World athletics’ integrity unit must tread warily

Tweeting lists of names has the frightening potential to muddy the waters and a propensity to apportion blame without concrete proof.

Viktor Chegin, who heads the Russian race-walking centre in Saransk, has trained more than 20 athletes caught for doping in recent years. Picture: AFP Photo /Fabrice Coffrini

The use of the web and social media – Twitter in particular – has done little to still some vociferous opposition to this sphere of ever-changing, rapid-growth technology.

Tweeting has brought into play the inherent dangers of letting it all hang out there, as US president Donald Trump and the DA’s Helen Zille have discovered when the desire to have a say took over from the realities of perceived slights.

Even the great Serena Williams has tweeted her displeasure at the frequency of her dope testing, what she termed as “it’s that time of the day to get ‘randomly’ drug tested and only test Serena. Out of all the players it’s been proven I’m the one getting tested the most. Discrimination? I think so. At least I’ll be keeping the sport clean”.

But the serial champion, with an Open Era record 23 Grand Slam singles titles, had the common sense to follow up her amazing return to the big time from motherhood with: “But I’m ready to do whatever it takes to have a clean sport so bring it on. I’m excited.”

Head of the recently formed Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), Australian Brett Clothier, was far less accommodating, saying all future disciplinary cases involving athletes would be published on its website and tweeted, as part of a drive towards “greater transparency”.

“Previously the IAAF would only release information when it was final and binding but that disciplinary process could take up to four years,” he said. “The feedback from athletes and the public was they hated it when their people suddenly disappeared and they had no way of knowing why.”

The AIU’s disciplinary list, reported Britain’s Guardian, contains winners of 85 Olympic and world championship medals – the majority of whom are Russians implicated in the second McLaren report of December 2016.

“What people can take heart from is that the IAAF [last year] created an independent unit, invested in it heavily and that we are going to get things done without fear and favour.

“We want to uncover the networks behind doping and expose them.”

The reasons behind this might be truly altruistic, but the rub is that publishing lists of names on the web and then tweeting them has the frightening potential to muddy the waters and a propensity to apportion blame without concrete proof.