New, incriminating evidence has surfaced that reveals the IAAF was aware of severe doping in Russia six years before the international governing body banned the country from competition. A six-year-span of emails, letters and reports obtained by The Associated Press reveals that the IAAF was aware of Russia’s doping problem and feared that Russian athletes were at risk of death from performance enhancing drug abuse. 

The documents reveal that IAAF officials considered collaborating with Russia in order to hide the full extent of the doping problem prior to the 2012 Olympic Games. 

In 2009, a new form of blood testing emerged which revealed shocking results of Russian athletes, results that gave insight into the full extent of the Russian doping problem. According to the emails, letters and documents obtained by The AP from an anonymous inside source, the IAAF was aware of the issue six years ago and even communicated the severity of the situation with Russian officials. 

“This matter of the Russian athletes’ blood levels is now so serious and is not getting any better (in fact possibly getting worse) that immediate and drastic action is needed,” Pierre Weiss, then-IAAF General Secretary wrote in a letter on Oct. 14, 2009 to Valentin Balakhnichev, then-Russian Athletics President. Balakhnichev was banned from the sport of track and field for life last week.

Weiss went on to write that the blood results from the Russian athletes “recorded some of the highest values ever seen since the IAAF started testing.”

The letter continued to detail that the tests conducted at the 2009 World Championships “strongly suggest a systematic abuse of blood doping or EPO-related products.”

Weiss wrote on behalf of the IAAF that the governing body was concerned with the health of the Russian competitors as EPO, if overused, can result in increased risk of blood clots, strokes and heart attacks. 

The documents also showed that in 2011, the improved blood testing started to reveal so many cheating Russian athletes that the IAAF officials considered breaking their own rules and those of the World Anti-Doping Agency by dealing with some cases privately. 

The notes showed an approach that included normal sanctions for the best-known elite Russian athletes, but “rapid and discreet” handling of second-tier cases. The idea was for the less-known athlete bans to go relatively unnoticed. 

“These measures concern athletes without titles or major results. Their withdrawal from competition wouldn’t necessarily attract attention,” a note addressed to then-IAAF President Lamine Diack from April 10, 2012. Diack was arrested on charges of corruption and money-laundering in November 2015. 

IAAF spokesperson Chris Turner confirmed the validity of the letters and responded to The AP’s questioning by saying that the IAAF gave a “clear, open warning” to Russia. He also said that the secret sanction proposals were never put into practice. 

“Every athlete was investigated and has either been sanctioned or is currently going through a legal process as part of being sanctioned,” Turner said. 

“In 2011 there was a huge influx of suspicious profiles coming through. There was a need to prioritize, and in particular to expedite those cases which involved potential medal winners ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games. No cases were concealed or suppressed, the IAAF simply tackled them in order of importance,” Turned told The AP in a statement. 

The note from 2011 mentioned the names of 10 second-tier athletes, mostly from race walking and middle distance events, that were eligible for “rapid and discreet” sanctions. 

The IAAF suspended Russia from international competition in Nov. 2015 after the World Anti-Doping Agency published a report that revealed a culture of “systematic, state-sponsored doping” in the federation. Russia has since accepted the full suspension and is reportedly in the process of an inspection conducted by the IAAF Council. 

Last week a panel of the IAAF Ethics Board delivered lifetime bans to four former members of the international governing body. Papa Massata Diack, former marketing consultant of the IAAF, Balakhnichev, former President of the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) and IAAF treasurer , Alexei Melnikov, former Chief ARAF Coach, and Gabriel Dolle, former Director of the IAAF’s Anti-Doping Department. They were each banned for “various breaches of the IAAF Code of Ethics.”