The report into how UK Athletics handled decisions about its relationship with disgraced running coach Alberto Salazar, have cleared the UKA of any wrong doing but says they could have handled the aftermath effect better.
In a 130-page independent report published on Friday, found UKA took “reasonable” decisions given the circumstances but its handling of the scandal “could have been better”.
The report also says the UKA board described the position taken by performance director Neil Black and coach Barry Fudge on the issue as “in effect blackmail”, after the pair said their roles would be “untenable” if the Salazar-Farah coaching set-up was severed.
In November, UKA commissioned the independent review into the scandal, led by sports law barrister John Mehrzad.In the report, Mehrzad makes a series of recommendations related to future reviews, strengthening the coaching code of conduct and governance of “high-risk” situations, all of which have been accepted by UKA.One of the five recommendations of the report relates to accurate minute-taking.
On the same Friday the report was released, for inexplicable reason; doctor Rob Chakraverty – the former UK Athletics chief medical officer who administered controversial injections to Sir Mo Farah in 2014 resigned as the lead doctor for the England men’s football team as reported by The Times.”It has been a privilege to work as the lead doctor to the England men’s senior team since joining The FA in 2016″.
It will be recalled that in BBC panorama, it was revealed that emails between senior UK Athletics figures, which debated whether giving Sir Mo injections of L-carnitine two days before he ran the 2014 London Marathon was ethical, with concerns expressed over whether it was in the “spirit of the sport”. UK Athletics head of endurance running Barry Fudge, former UK Athletics performance director Neil Black and now-disgraced American distance running coach Alberto Salazar were also present when Chakraverty gave Sir Mo the injections, according to BBC Panorama.
