British sports bodies are queueing up to urge caution as athletes race to prove their innocence by publishing the results of blood doping samples with the elite funding agency UK Sport among those encouraging athletes to think carefully before revealing details.
The double Olympic champion Mo Farah is one of a number of top stars set to publish their statistics in a bid to end suspicion of any wrongdoing.
UK Sport officials say they understand Farah’s decision in the wake of his implication in drugs allegations against his coach, Alberto Salazar.
But the agency – which is pumping almost £27m into top-level athletics for the four-year cycle up to the Rio 2016 Olympics – stressed it might not be for everyone.
A UK Sport spokesperson said: “We understand the action taken by those who have chosen to be transparent at this point in time as a demonstration of their commitment to clean sport – however we must also respect every athlete’s individual choice regarding the sharing of their personal medical information.
“UK Sport has a zero-tolerance policy on doping and supports the work of UK Anti-Doping and the national governing bodies to ensure athletes and athlete support personnel are very aware of their responsibilities to train and compete cleanly to maintain the integrity of sport and competition.”
UK Athletics fears data could be “misinterpreted” while the UK Anti-Doping chief executive, Nicole Sapstead, said on Sunday that the logical conclusion to such a move would be that those who resisted publicising their results would be suspected.
There are no suggestions Farah has broken any doping rules, but he is keen to prove his innocence after allegations levelled at Salazar by a BBC Panorama investigation in June.
