JESS: DOPE SCANDAL WILL GET WORSE

JESSICA ENNIS- HILL has warned the doping scandal engulfing athletics will get worse and said she cannot envisage how Russia will have cleaned up its act sufficiently to compete in athletics at this summer’s Olympics.

The 29-year-old also put the onus on IAAF president Lord Coe to prove he is the right man to bring about change at the top of the stricken sport.

Coe was vice- president to Lamine Diack, who enabled a bribery and blackmail ring to extort money from an athlete to cover up a positive drugs test.

Olympic champion Ennis-Hill (right) said: ‘Most British athletes would say they had some feeling Russian athletes may not have been doing what they should have. But I certainly didn’t think anything of that level of corruption was happening within the IAAF.

‘It’s upsetting and completely shocking to read what’s been going on and as an athlete who’s competing now you put your trust in your international federation to make sure they’re doing everything properly and protecting athletes.

‘ I don’t want to be training and competing thinking, “I wonder if they’ve been doing their job properly?” You expect it all to be taken care of.

‘We know there’s been a lot of cheating and a lot of athletes have missed out on medals.

‘I think (these revelations) are the tip of the iceberg and it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.’

Asked if she considered Coe the best man to lead the sport, EnnisHill replied: ‘It’s hard. We need to see what he can do in the short term.

‘Seb’s in a really difficult position and he’s going to have to take some drastic measures in the longer term to prove himself. He’s got a lot to prove over the next year and beyond.’

One of Coe’s first significant acts as IAAF president was to suspend Russian athletes from international competition after systematic doping in the country was exposed.

They could be welcomed back in time for the Rio Olympics if they can prove they are clean, though Ennis-Hill seriously doubts the feasibility of that. She said: ‘I find it quite hard to see how that’s going to happen. It’s not just on a small scale, it’s embedded. To do it properly is going to take time.’

Jessica Ennis-Hill was speaking on behalf of Santander Cycles — London’s flagship cycle hire scheme.