Athletics in the UK: The Rise and Fall of the BAF

79 Management challenges In December 1987 The Times newspaper had run a three day series of articles on drug abuse in British athletics. Leading officials such as Andy Norman, Les Jones, Robert Stinson and Nigel Cooper were all accused of complicity in athletes avoiding the testing system and paying only lip service to the anti-doping regime. Robert Stinson was, at the time, the IAAF’s Treasurer and was, therefore, in a particularly delicate and dangerous situation. The subsequent storm that raged was extremely damaging to the sport’s reputation and the AAA and BAAB had to take action. Advised by London solicitors Linklaters that a legal action against The Times could be ruinously expensive and with no certainty of success, the AAA played for time and instituted an independent enquiry chaired by Peter Coni QC. No sooner was the doping scandal out of the news and starting to die down when another hit the headlines. Zola Budd, a South African athlete, had decided to take up residence in the UK and her application for a British passport had been fast tracked through the system. She was therefore eligible to represent Great Britain in international competition and had, indeed, done so in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In those days, South Africa was excluded from international sport as a protest against the apartheid system and anyone competing there was also excluded. The IAAF had been informed that, in breach of the international Gleneagles Agreement , Zola Budd had “taken part” in a race in South Africa and should accordingly be banned from international athletics. She denied this allegation on the grounds that she had not actually taken part in the race but had attended as a spectator and the matter reached the Council of the IAAF that, as it happened, was due to meet in London in April 1988. The IAAF decided that Budd was ineligible and demanded that the BAAB undertake not to select her for Great Britain teams, failing which the BAAB could be suspended from membership of the IAAF. The suspension of the BAAB would have had far reaching consequences as all British athletes would, at a stroke, be denied international competition. The legal advice received by the BAAB was that the IAAF had not acted in accordance with natural justice towards Zola Budd. The BAAB was thus caught between two unpalatable options; to defy the IAAF and defend Zola Budd or to acquiesce in the IAAF’s demand and face possible legal