OLYMPIC COACH ADMITS IMPORTING DRUG

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - South African swimming coach Graham Hill
admitted Friday he tried to carry a dietary supplement that contains the
banned substance ephedrine into Perth Airport.

Hill said at a news conference in Melbourne that he was embarrassed by the
media attention given to the incident because he was carrying the
supplement, Hydroxycut, for personal reasons. He said he used the dietary
supplement to control his own weight, and none of the South African
swimmers are using it.

South African head coach Dean Price, in Melbourne for a meet that starts
Saturday, said there was a positive side to the seizure.

"If anybody is carrying drugs, or any performance enhancing things, they
now know that they will be caught," Price said. "We support that 100
percent and have no problem with that."

Earlier reports suggested that up to 500 tablets were seized.

"It (Hydroxycut) is widely available over the counter overseas," Customs
spokesman Leon Beddington said in Canberra on Friday. "Based on the normal
concentration of ephedrine in these tablets, 14 would contain about 0.01
grams of ephedrine."

Beddington said for the purposes of Customs legislation, the substance was
not classified as a performance-enhancing drug. He said Hill had not
breached Customs legislation.

"Normal Customs procedures, practiced every day throughout Australia, are
that if a passenger is carrying a personal-use quantity of such a substance
and has a doctor's prescription, they are allowed to keep them," Beddington
said.

"If they do not have a prescription, the substance is seized and no further
action is necessary."

Customs officials declined to make an official report to the Australian
Sports Drug Agency, which is responsible for doping tests in all sports
within Australia.