by Our Sports Desk

THE world of athletics was rocked yesterday as full extent of leaked information on doping sunk in.

More than a third of Olympic and world championships medals — including 55 golds — have been won by athletes with suspicious doping test results following the “biggest leak of blood-test data in sporting history,” the Sunday Times reported.

The newspaper says it, along with the German broadcaster ARD/WDR, has had access to a database containing more than 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes and which it claims reveals “the extraordinary extent of cheating by athletes at the world’s most prestigious events.”

The data, which belongs to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) but was released by a whistleblower, has been analysed by two leading anti-doping experts — scientist Robin Parisotto and exercise physiologist Michael Ashenden.

It reveals that more than 800 athletes — one in seven of those named in the files — have recorded blood tests described by one of the experts as “highly suggestive of doping or at the very least abnormal.”

And while stars such as Britian’s Mo Farah and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt have emerged unscathed it is reported that a top British athlete is among seven Britons with “suspicious” blood scores.

The IAAF acknowledged the leak in a statement and was critical of the exposure of private medical data, saying that the information is “largely based on analysis of an IAAF database of private and confidential medical data which has been obtained without consent. The IAAF is now preparing a detailed response to both media outlets and will reserve the right to take any follow-up action necessary to protect the rights of the IAAF and its athletes.”

Responding to the leak the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Sir Craig Reedie said: “WADA is very disturbed by these new allegations that have been raised; which will, once again, shake the foundation of clean athletes worldwide.”

And he also announced that given the nature of the allegations, they would be handed over immediately to the organisation’s independent commission for further investigation.

Olympic gold medallist and heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill, who lost out on gold at the 2011 World Championships to Russian athlete Tatyana Chernova, who has since served a two-year doping ban, said: “It is never good to hear of new possible doping offences in my sport, but if we are to stop a few athletes thinking cheating is acceptable, we have to explore all information that comes to light, however damaging it is for the sport as a whole.

“Like so many other clean athletes I put my faith in the system operated by the IAAF and WADA and focus on training.

“I very much hope both organisations can respond to the latest allegations quickly so athletes and fans alike can carry on with confidence believing that progress is being made in tackling doping in our sport.”

Five-time Olympic rowing champion Sir Steve Redgrave expressed his hope that “drugs are not the focal point of the Rio Olympics” next summer.

He said: “In an awful way, nothing surprises me any more.

“Doping now seems to be so widespread that it’s difficult to prove you are clean.

“The IAAF need better funding and better resources to tackle this problem or else nothing is going to change.”

Lord Sebastian Coe, who is running as a presidential candidate for the IAAF urged the body to issue a “robust and detailed response” to the leaked details.