Athletics doping crisis: Will Coe follow words with deeds?

FROM an Irish perspective, there is bitter irony in the fact that China is where former Olympic 1,500m champion Sebastian Coe won the race to be president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the body that governs world athletics.

The people of Cobh will never forget the China connection in the World Championship of 1993, when three unknown Chinese athletes swept past Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan, hot favourite to win gold in the 3,000 metres, dashing her hopes of gaining a medal of any colour.

As the story goes, they had prepared for that eventful race on a diet of turtle soup, thus sparking rumours of doping. Whether by coincidence, or whatever the explanation, soon after that astonishing performance, and a handful of similar victories in other races, the mystery deepened when it transpired that the three Chinese runners concerned vanished just as quickly as they had appeared, never to be heard of again on the international track-and-field scene.