Mo Farah defended by Seb Coe over London Marathon doping slurs as MPs prepare to quiz a former UK Athletics doctor
Four-time Olympic champ faces further scrutiny after taking supplement to boost testosterone levels in 2014
SEB COE has defended Mo Farah over doping slurs by declaring: “He is not an idiot.”
The four-time Olympic champ will face further scrutiny today when MPs quiz a former UK Athletics doctor who gave him a drug infusion.
Brit Farah, 34, was given supplement L-carnitine, which can boost testosterone levels, before he ran in the 2014 London Marathon.
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The substance is only illegal in dosages of more than 50ml within six hours — but UK Athletics medical staff did NOT properly record it.
Robin Chakraverty, the doctor responsible and who now works with the England football team, is among those giving evidence to a Commons investigation into doping in sport.
Yet Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, has backed Farah despite ongoing doping allegations against his coach Alberto Salazar and the US-based Nike Project team.
Salazar has strenuously denied all allegations.
And Coe said: “Mo is not an idiot. I’m not inside The Nike Project but you have to assume Mo asked some pretty deep and searching questions.
“I know if my coach had been questioned in that way, I’d have asked some pretty deep and searching questions.
“You must assume the answers Mo had have been satisfactory.”
UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner, head of endurance Barry Fudge and Dr John Rogers — who first raised concerns about Salazar in 2011 — will also be quizzed by MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.
UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl will be at the Commons today, too.
She faces questions on cycling, which has been rocked by allegations of sexism, bullying and the Bradley Wiggins “Jiffygate” probe into a mystery package delivered to the Brit star at a race in 2011.
However, Coe added: “One positive test would be too much but let’s get things into proportion.
“The story of London 2012 was extraordinary, the story of the Rio Olympics for British athletes was extraordinary.
“I don’t believe we are not without criticism — but look at the progress that Team GB has made.
“You mustn’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
“This has really been an inspirational journey for the nation and British sport.”