Alarm sounded on new, massive track and field doping scandal

LONDON - The current doping crisis engulfing track and field is as damaging to the sport as the scandals involving Ben Johnson and Marion Jones, IAAF vice president Sebastian Coe said Sunday.

"In the 40 years I have been involved in athletics, there have been big moments - Ben Johnson, Marion Jones," the British middle-distance great told the BBC. "This is up there."

The sport's governing body is investigating allegations by a German TV station of a cover-up of systematic doping in Russia. Two IAAF officials have stepped down while the investigation takes place.

"It's been described as a bad week for athletics," said Coe, who recently declared his candidacy to become president of the IAAF. "I would go further, it's been a ghastly week."

"None of us should hide or shy away from that. We have to bring this tawdry, sorry episode and any of those allegations to a close as quickly as we can."

Johnson failed a doping test after winning the 100 meters at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Jones was stripped of five Olympic gold medals in 2007 after admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs in her career.