Jo Pavey: European champion says athletes have 'lost faith' in IAAF amid doping scandal

Jo Pavey thinks athletes have "lost faith" in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The British runner has questioned the credibility of the sport's governing body following the release of a report from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), which claimed "corruption was embedded" within the IAAF.

Pavey, the reigning European 10,000m champion, questioned whether the sport is able to regulate itself after the IAAF was accused of trying to cover up doping by Russian athletes.

"As athletes at the moment, we've all lost confidence in the IAAF and we don't trust them to police our sport as far as anti-doping and looking after the interests of clean athletes," she said, according to the BBC.

"It's a frustrating time and it makes you want to call for something independent, where the sport isn't policing itself on anti-doping issues, because I think we've lost a lot of faith. I think it's going to take longer than until Rio to restore faith. There's been action taken against Russia, but it goes so much deeper than Russia."

The report has increased the pressure on Lord Coe, the president of the IAAF, who has been criticised for not taking stronger action against doping in athletics. However, Pavey thinks the Olympic gold medal-winning official is the right man to address the problem.

She said: "It's an opportunity for him to turn it around, he's passionate about taking our sport forward and hopefully we can look forward to a brighter future."