CANBERRA: A quarter of Australia’s athletes at the Seoul Olympics probably took drugs during training for the games, former top coach Kelvin Giles alleged on Friday.
“We had 29 athletes in the Olympic Games and I would suggest that 25 percent Of those had taken, or were taking them (drugs) in their preparation for Seoul,” Giles told a parliamentary committee on the use of drugs by Athletes.
Giles, a former track and coach at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), did not name those he suspected. Two of the squad was barred from the games after testing Positive for illegal drugs.
Giles was banned for life from using his facilities after commenting on television last year that Australia’s sports administrators had failed to tackle the drugs problem,
He told the committee, “The drugs are a training aid. They aren’t a performance aid, so there is’ no need to take them anywhere near to competition,
“Those who do take them close to competition are foolish from the catch and punish situation, but they are also psychologically dependent on them.”
Giles based his claim on 15 years involvement in track and field, including as a British National Coach, and work with the Australian sports commission’s drugs in sport unit.
He claimed athletes had become corrupted by big money paid by sponsors of events, saying drugs were very tempting for athletes attempting to improve.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 18, 1988
