Turkey should not be awarded 2020 Olympics — IAAF official
MOSCOW, Russia (AP) — High-ranking athletes’ representative and marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe says Istanbul should not be awarded the 2020 Olympics because the slew of recent Turkish doping scandals amount to abuse of teenagers.
Radcliffe, a member of the IAAF athletes’ commission, said Wednesday that the flurry of recent doping suspensions undermined Turkey’s credibility but insisted she could not back Madrid either because of doping issues in Spain. Tokyo is the other candidate.
Radcliffe said ahead of the World Championships opening today that “in Turkey’s case, I would say that is abusing some of those athletes who are 16, 17 years old” and that “I don’t believe they (the teenagers) had a whole lot of choice.”
The Turkish federation announced this week that 31 athletes, including two teenagers, have been suspended for two years each.