The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) this afternoon confirmed that it has notified police over the ARD/Sunday Times analysis of 12,000 blood samples from 5,000 athletes, after an internal investigation concluded that the data was not leaked by the IAAF. It also said that ‘all legal means’ would be used to expose how the data ended up in the public domain. Athletics’ world governing body also said that it had dropped an injunction against the Sunday Times on Friday, after the newspaper had promised not to disclose the personal data of the athletes.

The IAAF said that the Sunday Times had ‘sought to make much of the fact that the IAAF had threatened it last week with an injunction against publication of the article before eventually standing down. But the fact is that the IAAF only withdrew its application once the Sunday Times had confirmed that it would not be disclosing the personal sensitive data of unnamed athletes.’

In its full response to ARD and the Sunday Times, which is available by clicking here, the IAAF said that the database ‘was not leaked by an IAAF staff member as indicated in the ARD documentary’ and ‘the relevant police authorities have now been notified. According to the intelligence that it has received, the IAAF believes that the Database was obtained illegally by ARD and the Sunday Times and it will pursue all legal means to expose the circumstances of the disclosure and the conduct and motives of the persons involved.’

Yesterday, the Sports Integrity Initiative reported how the IAAF data was not new, and that an IAAF injunction against the Sunday Times had been dropped on Friday. The report also pointed out that single blood data values could not be used to identify instances of blood doping, a fact that was emphasised in an IAAF media statement published today.