Oly: Permanently ban drug cheats from Olympics, Grigorieva says

AAP General News (Australia)
08-09-2008
Oly: Permanently ban drug cheats from Olympics, Grigorieva says

SYDNEY, Aug 9 AAP - Athletes should not be indiscriminately labelled as drug cheats
but those who do test positive should be permanently banned from the Olympics, says Australian
pole vaulting champion, Tatiana Grigorieva.

The Sydney Olympic silver medallist has described Australian runner Tamsyn Lewis' recent
accusation that her competitors are drug cheats as "very unfair" and suggests she leave
doping matters to the experts.

"It is a very big call to accuse someone on suspicion only," Grigorieva wrote on her
online blog three days ago.

"So unless people have been caught and have been disqualified, I think it is very unfair
to the clean competitors to say that I will look left and right and know the other girls
aren't clean.

"Plus we do have a body that has been put together to control and monitor drug usage in sport.

"They do it for a living so I think it would be better to leave it to them."

Lewis, an 800m specialist, this week said doping had taken over the sport and demanded
testing authorities do more to catch cheats.

"I have no doubts that when I line up next week on the start line, I will look left
and right and know the other girls aren't all clean," she said.

While athletes must be presumed innocent, once they are proven guilty of doping they
should be banned from the Olympics, Grigorieva says, pointing to US 100m hurdler Damu
Cherry, who served a two-year ban for doping violations and will face Australia's Sally
McLellan on the track in Beijing.

"These people need to be banned from the Olympics," she writes.

"I believe that once you have used before you would never go back to being clean.

"Those athletes who have been banned in the past should not be competing at the highest level.

"I want to quote my good friend (international athletics agent) Maurie Plant who said
what a shame for the sport, for the athlete and the country if Sally is denied a medal
by a cheat!"

Grigorieva says although the drug testing procedure can be embarrassing, it is an excepted
part of an athlete's life.

"In the beginning it is quite shameful having to go to the loo in front of someone
you don't know and will probably never see again but it is part of it," she says.

Athletes should not get carried away with distractions but remain focused on their
performance, Grigorieva says.

"There is no point worrying about things you can't change," she writes.

"All you can change is your own performance."

AAP bsb/jmt

KEYWORD: OLY08 GRIGORIEVA

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