According to the MPCC figures - which it said were "based on proven cases in 2014, according to official communications [by] federations and anti-doping agencies etc" - athletics was well clear with 95 cases, followed by baseball with 62, weightlifting with 28 and cycling with 16.

Wrestling was fifth on the list with 13 cases, then swimming with 12 and football, ice hockey and rugby, each with seven.

Broken down by country, the United States was said to have had 61 cases, then Russia had 47, Dominican Republic had 13, and India had 10, while Brazil, Canada, Iran and Kazakhstan each had eight.

The stats by Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Crédible clearly show athletics as the sport with most reported doping offences in 2014 ©MPCC

Not surprisingly, the cycling cases are looked at in most detail: 13 of the 16 cases involved road cyclists, while only one of the cyclists concerned was female.

Athletics currently finds itself in the anti-doping spotlight, having been rocked by recent allegations in a German television investigation of a cover-up of systematic doping in Russia.

The allegations have been denied strongly by Russia's Athletics Federation; the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has set up an independent Commission, headed by its former President Richard Pound, to look into the claims.

The MPCC figures can be found here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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