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Athletics has to restore credibility: Michael Johnson

Dubai - Athletics finds itself muddled in doping and corruption with the next Olympics just less than nine months away.

  Athletics legend Michael Johnson has said that the sport is at a 'critical' moment and added that restoring its credibility among the media, fans and athletes was the number one priority.
Athletics finds itself muddled in doping and corruption with the next Olympics just less than nine months away. Powerhouses Russia have been suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) because of state-sponsored doping, while the Italian Olympic Committee on Wednesday requested bans on 26 athletes for alleged doping offences. Also, three Kenyan Athletics officials too have been suspended over corruption allegations as well as regarding their anti-doping process.
And Johnson, who ruled the world of athletics, winning four Olympic gold medals as well as eight gold medals at the World Championships, said that the sport should look at the larger picture to come out of the darkness. "It is a critical moment for the sport of athletics," Johnson said on Thursday. The 48-year-old is in Dubai as a special guest for the Rugby Sevens, the first round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, this weekend. "I think credibility has to be restored. That is important and it has to be priority number one, not only with the media but also with fans and athletes," he added.
Johnson was unsure if the next summer's Olympics in Rio will be affected by these elements but said that that shouldn't be the priority at the moment and added that getting the belief back was more essential. "I don't know and I don't think anyone knows that. If I was in the position of running the sport, whether or not 2016 is going to be affected is not the priority right now. That is another eight or nine months away, Right now, the sport is in a critical moment and transparency is important. Credibility, as quickly as possible, should be restored to the sport through the actions of those who are in charge is what is needed," said Johnson, who still holds the 400m world and Olympic records. Johnson also said that new IAAF President Sebastian Coe, who was grilled by UK MPs on various topics, on Wednesday, has his task cut out and added that the British four-time Olympic medal winner must lead by example.
"The sport of athletics I believe has done a very good job of having a zero-tolerance policy for doping and has led in many cases over the last 20 years or so with a policy towards doping. The issue though is when you move from the conversation being less about who may or may not be doping, to whether or not the organization trusted with protecting those clean athletes and policing the sport, whether or not they are complicit in covering up tests and protecting athletes with corruption an bribery allegations. That's a whole different ball game. So, Seb certainly has his work cut out for him. It is not just the doping issues but it is also about credibility and restoring credibility to the sport. So, Seb will have to lead by example but also in implementing policies that will restore credibility back to the sport, not just from the fans and media stand point but athletes as well," he elaborated.
Former British triple jumper Jonathan Edwards has called for doping cheats to be jailed but Johnson felt that they needed to look at what was feasible in the long run. "There are all sorts of things that you can say and would be great if it could be done but you have to go back and sit down and really look at what you are doing with here and if you are doing it with multiples of countries and different laws in each of those countries. But you have to look at whether or not if it is feasible," said Johnson.
"At the end of the day, in terms of fighting doping in the sport of athletics or any sport, you have to look at what is feasible and find real solutions. You have to increase the budgets for which you have to fight doping in any sport so that it doesn't happen to begin with and you can crackdown from that stand point. But the conversation has to be about what is feasible and as opposed to what sounds good. I would suggest doing the research first to make sure that is an actual feasible solution that would actually be able to be implemented across the entire world and all of the athletes who participate in the sport and be able to see if it can be enforced," he added.