International crackdown on doping urged

Justin Gatlin

LONDON - The world governing athletics body urged governments yesterday to work closely with international federations and destroy the criminal elements it claimed were behind doping in sport.

In a statement, International Association of Athletics Federations spokesman Nick Davies said the federation was "extremely disappointed and shocked" to learn that American Olympic and world 100m champion Justin Gatlin had admitted to a positive test for testosterone.

The admission came just two days after confirmation that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, also an American, had also tested positive for excessive amounts of the male sex hormone.

"We need to find ways to work even more closely with governments to destroy the criminal elements that are behind doping in sport," Davies said.

"Sports sanctions alone do not seem to be sufficient deterrent, especially not for the support staff behind the athletes who are profiting from doping but cannot be affected sufficiently by sports sanctions. These people are criminals and only the full force of the law will stop them."

Davies referred to the Spanish Government's "Operation Puerto", the police investigation into doping that resulted in this year's race favourite being withdrawn from the Tour de France before the race began. "This is what we need," he said.

News of the positive tests for the joint holder of the world 100m record and the man who won the latest edition of the world's greatest cycling endurance race are further grave blows to the credibility of two sports already struggling against the perception that they are drug-riddled.

The Gatlin statement came on the day that Britain named Dwain Chambers in their team for the European championships in Gothenburg next week after his return from a drug ban.

Chambers was banned for two years after a positive test for the steroid THG (tetrahydrogestrinone), the drug at the centre of the BALCO laboratory scandal.

As a result of the investigation, former world record-holder Tim Montgomery was banned after the Court of Arbitration for Sport accepted evidence that he had taken a variety of banned drugs, including THG. He was formerly coached by Trevor Graham who is currently Gatlin's coach.

Track and field's most notorious drugs bust remains Canadian Ben Johnson's positive test for a steroid after winning the 1988 Seoul Olympic 100m final in world-record time.

Briton Linford Christie, who won the gold medal in Barcelona in 1992, tested positive for massive levels of another anabolic steroid seven years later when he was in semi-retirement.

In his statement, Gatlin protested that he could not understand how a positive test was possible, particularly because he faced a life ban after testing positive for an amphetamine at the 2001 US junior championships.

Landis, who is waiting for the result of the second sample, insisted on Friday in Madrid that he had naturally high levels of testosterone and had not taken testosterone drugs. If the B sample is positive, Landis will be the first winner in the 103-year history of the race to lose his title.

- REUTERS