Coe dismisses drug claims

2007-06-03 17:23

London - Sebastian Coe, the head of the London 2012 Olympic Games organisation, has rejected claims from dope cheat British sprinter Dwain Chambers that it is nigh impossible to be a successful athlete without using performance-enhancing drugs.

Chambers, banned for two years in February 2004 after testing positive for the banned steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) the previous year, has put his track career on hold and secured a contract in American football for NFL Europe team the Hamburg Sea Devils.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) have insisted that Chambers repay any prize money he earned while using THG through future earnings on the track.

Chambers said that was the equivalent of being asked to "run for free". He has also said that an athlete using drugs would have to be having "a very bad day" to be beaten by an athlete obeying the rules.

Double Olympic gold medallist Coe, the chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee, said if he had his way, Chambers wouldn't have been allowed back into athletics.

"The IAAF have taken some money off him on the basis that he might come back, (but) he shouldn't be given that option.

"I've been saying for the last 25 or 30 years that if you systematically set out to cheat, then frankly you don't have a place in legitimate sport. He's probably in the right sport now, to be honest," Coe told the BBC's Inside Sport programme on Sunday.

Critical of Chambers

"We all accepted through gritted teeth that he could come back, but we all overlook the fact that it wasn't that long ago, drug-free, that the guy was running 9.87 (seconds) in Paris behind Tim Montgomery," Coe, the 1500 metres champion at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, added.

"We have got throughout our history athletes who have got to the very highest level who have not (taken drugs)."

Steve Cram, who together with Coe and Steve Ovett formed a trio of world-class British middle-distance runners in the early 1980s, was also critical of Chambers.

"When Dwain came back, people accepted that he had served his ban and he had paid his penalty," Cram said. "But once you decide to move away from the sport I don't have a lot of time for people who then stand on the sidelines and carp back on the sport.

"I wish he would just shut up about athletics.

"I genuinely believe there are people out there who can still perform to the very highest level and break world records without taking drugs," Cram, now a commentator for BBC television added.

Coe was also "depressed" by comments from Stephen Francis, the coach of joint 100 metres world record holder Asafa Powell.

Francis said he would provide his athletes with banned substances if the rule allowed.

"This is a guy who is basically saying 'if I could use drugs within the rules, I would use them'," commented Coe. "I think most coaches would walk away from their profession if that was the choice."

- SAPA