The bibs will carry the messages "I Run Clean", "I Jump Clean", "I Throw Clean", and "I Am Clean" for combined events.

A record number of 1,473 athletes from 50 countries have their names on the entry list for Amsterdam 2016, where action is due to take place from Wednesday (July 6) to Sunday (July 10).

European Athletics has added former drugs cheat Yulia Stepanova to the final entries and expects her name to be on the start list when it is published.

Stepanova, who incurred a two-year doping ban in February 2013, is scheduled to compete in the first round of the women’s 800 metres on Wednesday.

It was her allegations which led to the current suspension of Russian athletes from international competition following the scandal over doping in their country.

All teams will be officially informed of the policy regarding bibs at the European Athletics Championships' technical meeting, scheduled for Tuesday (July 5).

European Athletics hopes athletes and fans alike will also share and promote this message of anti-doping on social media platforms using the #irunclean, #ijumpclean, #ithrowclean hashtags.

"We want to give a voice to clean athletes on how they want our sport to be in the future, and this championships is the time for them to make a statement," said European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen.

"We want these simple statements to be adopted by the athletes as a platform for other ways they can fight doping.

"We need to think how we can take this message to the grassroots, promoted by our elite athletes who care about clean athletics.

"The vast majority of athletes are clean but have been hurt by the recent situation and the way their sport and livelihood has been dragged through the mud.

"It is important to give them the opportunity to express their feelings."

The initiative is similar to that created for last December’s SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Hyères, where competing runners were invited by European Athletics to carry an "I Run Clean" message on their bibs.

The annual Championships were the first major event where Russian athletes did not feature following the suspension of the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in November.

Members of the IAAF Council voted 22-1 to ban Russia after allegations of widespread state-supported doping were revealed in an explosive report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Commission.

"We want participating athletes to reassure those watching at the stadium, and at home, that they are competing without resorting to doping," said Hansen.

"We also want our athletes to encourage aspiring athletes to adopt a clean approach to sports."

An extensive testing programme is planned for this year's European Athletics Championships in collaboration with the IAAF.

It is claimed more than 100 blood samples and around 200 urine samples will be collected in Amsterdam. 

The testing plan involves target testing for specific analysis as well as random testing for track, field and road events.

"The Area Associations have had a very limited role in the fight against drugs in the past but I am making sure European Athletics does more in the fight against doping," added Hansen.

"I have been meeting regularly with our advisors to coordinate our work in this area and look at our response to developments outside of European Athletics.

"I think we need to be pro-active and lead in this field.

"We are also now cooperating much more closely with WADA and the IAAF on anti-doping matters.

"European Athletics also has to be responsible to give athletes more moral guidance.

"Our own Medical and Anti-Doping Commission will be working with partners to develop an education system focused on values that I want all athletes to go through as a condition for competing at the European Athletics Championships, or our other events."

The news comes at the beginning of a two-day European Athletics Medical Seminar taking place here.