CANBERRA - Australia moved into crisis mode yesterday to protect its swimmers from allegations of drug abuse after a leading coach was charged with possession of an anabolic steroid.
Former Russian coach Gennadi Touretski, whose stars include Olympic gold medallists Michael Klim, Alexandre Popov and four other membersof the Australian squad for the next world championships in Japan, will appear in court in Canberra tomorrow.
Touretski has been suspended on full pay from his job at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and his swimmers have been transferred to other coaches.
Police allege that they found the steroid during investigations into the theft of a safe from Touretski's home last week.
The safe, containing Olympic and Commonwealth gold and bronze medals given to Touretski by Klim, Popov and Russian swimmer Gennady Prigoda, was found dumped in a pond.
The subsequent alleged discovery of the steroid is a major embarrassment to Australia, which has been quick to point the finger at rival nations, including China, and which has prided itself on its tough anti-drugs regime.
Former Olympian and top coach Forbes Carlile described the allegation as disastrous for Australian swimming.
"[This] means a slur has been placed over Australian swimming which I cannot help but feel is going to take us a long time to live down."
Sports Minister Jackie Kelly said the Government would not tolerate drugs in sport - but defended swimmers associated with Touretski, who moved to Australia eight years ago.
"I wish to make it clear that I have absolute confidence in our athletes and the rigour of drug-testing these and other high-performance athletes are subjected to by the Australian Sports Drug Agency," she said.
Touretski, through lawyer Jason Parkinson, has denied the allegation and said he looked forward to having the matter determined in court.
Sports Drug Agency director John Mendoza said the type of steroid named in the allegation could be detected at very low levels, which gave him confidence that no other person would be implicated.
AIS director Mark Evans said the reaction of Touretski's swimmers was a mixture of sadness and confusion, tinged with fears that they would be hounded by the media and wrongly implicated in drug-taking.
He said all AIS swimming squad members had been regularly tested.
