Australian doping expert Michael Ashenden has heavily criticised the athletics ruling body IAAF for its response to the ongoing doping scandal.
The IAAF on Friday dismissed allegations it tolerated widespread blood doping in the sport based on abnormal values in thousands of tests.
"The IAAF has released a statement that comprises 25 pages of hair-splitting, plus 13 pages of appendices," Ashenden said in an open letter on Saturday.
German TV network ARD and British newspaper the Sunday Times reported in summer that a leaked IAAF database with 12,000 blood tests from around 5000 runners suggests that a third of medallists in endurance events at Olympics and worlds between 2001 and 2012 had suspicious readings.
Ashenden was one of two experts enlisted by the Sunday Times to analyse the data.
But, in a long statement, the IAAF insisted the allegations lack "any scientific or legal basis" and claimed results "are only reliable, and may only be fairly compared with the results from other samples in that athlete's profile".
However, Ashenden hit out at the body for discrediting his analysis and for attempting to distract from its role in the affair.
"The irony of a disgraced federation casting aspersions is not lost on me," Ashenden wrote.
"But their deliberately bloated document, no doubt intended to muddy the waters, cannot go unanswered.
"I have argued previously that there is a place for prudence when launching legal actions based on suspicious blood results.
"But the blood values were so extreme, over such an extended period, that they should have tried to do something, anything. The IAAF were legally timid when they should have been morally strong."
An independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency, chaired by former chairman Dick Pound, recently recommended Russia be suspended from athletics for implementing a program of systemised doping.
The IAAF endorsed the ban but was criticised for its approach to blood profiles.
"It is not just the Sunday Times or German broadcaster ARD questioning whether the IAAF 'idly sat by and let this happen'," Ashenden said.
"The independent commission has identified corruption and bribery practices at the highest levels of international athletics, currently under investigation by Interpol.
"A complex conspiracy involving the IAAF."
Share
