Sir Mo Farah could face an investigation by the UK Anti-Doping agency after it emerged that he changed his story when talking to US investigators about controversial injections he received in 2014.
Documents unveiled by a BBC Panorama investigation on Monday night showed how, in 2015, Farah had repeatedly denied being injected with the legal supplement L-carnitine by UK Athletics’ chief medical officer Dr Rob Chakraverty before the previous year’s London Marathon.
However, the transcripts show that after leaving the room at the end of a five-hour interview with US Anti- Doping Agency officials, Farah soon returned following a brief discussion with UK Athletics’ head of endurance Barry Fudge and this time admitted to being given L-carnitine.
It has been revealed that Mo Farah changed his response to investigators over injections
UKAD worked closely with USADA on the investigation that led to Farah’s former coach Alberto Salazar being given a four-year ban for doping offences last year and are ready to open their own investigation if new information comes to light.
Farah was coached by Salazar when he was given the injection in 2014 and at the time of his interview with USADA the following year which was documented in minute detail on Monday’s Panorama.
In a statement released on Monday night, UKAD welcomed the programme’s findings and pledged to review their own evidence.
Infusing a prohibited amount of L-carnitine, which is legal up to certain limits, was one of the offences which led to Salazar being banned by USADA, along with trafficking testosterone and attempting to tamper with doping controls.
Farah repeatedly denied being injected with the supplement by Dr Rob Chakraverty (above), who says he did not break any rules
In his 2015 interview with USADA, Farah was repeatedly probed on whether he received an injection before the 2014 London Marathon. A USADA investigator asked: ‘If someone said that you were taking L-carnitine injections, are they not telling the truth?’
According to the transcript, Farah replied: ‘Definitely not telling the truth, 100 per cent. I’ve never taken L-carnitine injections at all.’
Investigator: ‘Are you sure that Alberto Salazar hasn’t recommended that you take L-carnitine injections?’
Farah: ‘No, I’ve never taken L-carnitine injections.’
Investigator: ‘You’re absolutely sure that you didn’t have a doctor put a butterfly needle … into your arm … and inject L-carnitine a few days before the London marathon?’
Farah: ‘No. No chance.’
Panorama revealed that Farah then left the interview and returned to the room following a conversation with Fudge, before going back on his denials.
Chakraverty -who denies breaking any rules – was chief medical officer of UKA at the time and is now currently at the FA
In the transcript, Farah is quoted as saying: ‘So I just wanted to come clear, sorry guys, and I did take it at the time and I thought I didn’t…’
He is asked: ‘So you received L-carnitine… before the London marathon?’
Farah: ‘Yeah.’ Farah added: ‘There was a lot of talk before… and Alberto’s always thinking about “What’s the best thing?”’
Investigator: ‘… a few days before the race … with … Alberto present and your doctor (Chakraverty) and Barry Fudge and you’re telling us all about that now but you didn’t remember any of that when I … kept asking you about this?’
Farah: ‘It all comes back for me, but at the time I didn’t remember.’
The sudden backtrack from Farah will set off further alarms in the long-running scrutiny of his relationship with Salazar. Farah, who won four Olympic gold medals in his time with the American between 2011 and 2017, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has never failed a drugs test.
The issue surrounding L-carnitine and Farah was already deeply contentious, although its use is allowed under WADA rules as long as infusions or injections are below 50ml every six hours.
In 2017, following a Sunday Times report that Farah had received an infusion of L-carnitine in 2014, the Digital Culture Media and Sport select committee inquiry called in Farah’s team for clarification. The committee was told the volume was a compliant 13.5ml, but Dr Chakraverty had failed to record it — an oversight that has left Farah and his team open to questioning.
The revelation causes further alarm due to the scrutiny of his relationship with Alberto Salazar
This latest revelation that Farah changed his story about the 2014 injection — Salazar, Fudge, Dr Chakraverty and former UKA performance director Neil Black were all in the hotel room at the time — makes the situation even more uncomfortable. It follows a recent interview in which Farah also admitted previously downplaying his relationship with Jama Aden, the Somali coach who is wanted in Spain on doping charges.
The Panorama broadcast also puts a light on some UKA officials who had internally queried the injections. That they ultimately proceeded would indicate they were comfortable using the supplement.
On April 6, 2014, Fudge wrote: ‘Whilst this process is completely within the WADA code there is a philosophical argument about whether this is within the “spirit of the sport…”. Although Alberto and Mo have expectations about doing this, we are not at a point where we … can’t pull out.’
Black wrote: ‘Should we really be trialling this process so close to the London Marathon?… That’s before we even think about the spirit of sport.’
Dr Chakraverty wrote: ‘…it would have been better to have trialled it in someone first. I understand (Salazar) is keen but… we should be asking him to follow this advice.’
Farah won four Olympic gold medals in his time with Salazar between 2011 and 2017
Damian Collins MP, former chair of the DCMS select committee which in 2017 examined Farah’s L-carnitine injection, said: ‘This very specific medicine was required, sourced at great difficulty, given against the initial advice of the doctor. Yet, no one keeps any records of it and everyone decides to keep quiet about it. This is something that should be looked at in some seriousness.’
Referring to Farah’s altered answer in his USADA interview and the claim that Farah had not listed L-carnitine on his doping control form after the 2014 London Marathon, a letter from Farah’s lawyers to Panorama read: ‘Mr Farah understood the question one way and as soon as he left the room he asked Mr Fudge and immediately returned … to clarify and it is plain the investigators were comfortable with this explanation.
Salazar is currently appealing a four-year ban from athletics for multiple doping violations
‘It is not against (WADA rules) to take (L-carnitine) as a supplement within the right quantities. Mr Farah … is one of the most tested athletes in the UK, if not the world, and has been required to fill in numerous doping forms. He is a human being and not a robot. That is relevant… if, in fact, something was missed from the form. Interviews are not memory tests.’
In a statement Dr Chakraverty said: ‘I have not contravened any (WADA) rules and have always acted in the best interests of those I treat.’
A UKA statement read: ‘UKA operates a zero tolerance policy towards the use of banned performance enhancing drugs and methods and toward any and all doping practices within sport.’