Freya Ross: Scottish runner supports drive to clean up athletics

Freya Ross says the move will help to clean up athletics

Publishing blood-test data is a "great idea" to make athletics cleaner, says Scottish Olympian Freya Ross.

The 31-year-old long-distance runner is one of eight British athletes who have agreed for their test results to be made public.

"Transparency is key to clean sport and I'm a big supporter of that," she told BBC Scotland.

"I'm more than happy to have my results published. I think results being made public is a good thing."

Last week, the Sunday Times claimed data leaked by an International Association of Athletics Federation whistleblower revealed "the extraordinary extent of cheating by athletes at the world's most prestigious events".

On Tuesday, the IAAF announced 28 athletes face disciplinary action over doping offences between 2005 and 2007.

According to the world governing body, a large majority of the athletes are retired with "very few" still active.

"The IAAF does a lot to stop doping but as long as people are cheating there's more to be done," said Ross.

The Edinburgh athlete did urge a degree of caution over "abnormal" test results.

Twenty-eight athletes at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships returned "adverse findings"

"An abnormal score doesn't mean you're cheating, so there has to be more understanding about it so people aren't misrepresented," she said.

"Data published by the IAAF shows there is a lot of doping going on and maybe things like some athletes making test scores public are a drop in the ocean.

"Anything that can make people want transparency is a good thing."

Ross, who finished 44th in the London 2012 Olympic marathon, is targeting a place in Team GB at Rio 2016.

She missed the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games with a broken hip and suffered a related injury in April this year.

"It's been a pretty frustrating time but I feel things are now going well and so hopefully I'll be competing again soon.

"I plan to do some road races in the autumn, maybe some cross country in the winter, then a marathon in spring and hopefully qualify for Rio.

"If I could make another Olympics it would be a dream come true... I think it's possible."