DRUGS IN SPORT - ABUSE WIDESPREAD, SAY SPORTING ELITE

The day that Ben Johnson was stripped of his 100m gold medal at the
Seoul Olympics remains, 10 years on, a most vivid and tragic reminder
of the effects of the explosive cocktail of drugs and sport. There was
a world outcry, calls for tighter regulations and more testing.

Yet, according to The Independent's survey of Britain's sporting
elite, the largest ever undertaken into the use of drugs among
competitors here, the same questions and arguments are being raised. A
decade on, the nation's sport - which is grappling with the voracious
demands of television, sponsors and much greater commercialism - still
has not cracked the drugs problem.

A majority of leading sportsmen and women believe their field has a
problem with drugs. Despite significant advances in drug testing, most
believe that cheats are continuing to beat the system. While just a
small number admit to taking illegal drugs, only one-quarter believe
their own sport is "clean".

Coming after a summer when the Tour de France was disrupted by doping
scandals, world swimming had a spate of prominent drug-test failures,
and allegations of drug-use in British rugby resurfaced, a large
number of respondents said they believed controls in their sports
needed tightening.

The Independent sent out questionnaires to more than 1,300; only in
cycling and rowing did the governing bodies decline to co-operate with
the survey, which produced more than 300 replies. Most respondents
were anonymous.

A male athlete of 34 echoed the sentiments of many. "What we saw from
this year's Tour de France is that doping is rife among European
cyclists. This suggests - judging by the fact that certain doctors and
team managers actually advocate doping as a means of 'safeguarding
health' - that it is probably not confined to cycling."

The use of anabolic steroids, which help build muscles and allow
intensive training, has long been one of the most serious problems.
Very few British sportsmen and women have ever failed drugs tests for
steroids, but three respondents to The Independent's survey admitted
using them, which suggests that many more may still be beating the
system. Five respondents also admitted to illegal use of testosterone,
which has similar benefits to those provided by steroids.

Three per cent of respondents said they used stimulants such as
amphetamines, which are used to improve mental sharpness and can help
athletes through pain thresholds; 5 per cent used narcotic analgesics,
which help eliminate pain; and 16 per cent admitted
"caffeine-loading", which increases alertness.

Yet perhaps even more significant is the widespread belief that
cheating is rife. Across all sports, 54 per cent believed that up to
30 per cent of those in their sport were using drugs illegally; 5 per
cent believed between 30 and 60 per cent were doing so; and 4 per cent
believed more than 60 per cent were cheating.

No respondent in rugby league and weightlifting believed their sport
to be clean, while only 3 per cent of athletes did so. Among all
respondents, 13 per cent cited steroids as a problem, which rose to 16
per cent in athletics, 40 per cent in weightlifting, 46 in rugby
league and 31 per cent in rugby union.

Overall, 43 per cent called for better testing and harsher penalties,
with the figure rising to 64 per cent in athletics, 46 per cent in
rugby league, 61 per cent in rugby union, 48 per cent in swimming and
80 per cent in weightlifting.

Another indicator of the prevalence of drugs was that 9 per cent had
been offered them by team mates, other participants or professional
dealers. This figure rose to 46 per cent in rugby league.

The survey suggests the fight against drugs has some way to go, and it
also shows a substantial minority have no ethical objection to taking
drugs. More than 20 per cent said they would take drugs if they were
legal, rising to 46 per cent in rugby league, 38 per cent in rugby
union, 26 per cent in football, 22 per cent in tennis and 17, 15 and
13 per cent in cricket, swimming and athletics respectively.

"If others were improving as a result of taking performance enhancing
drugs and they were allowed, it would be silly not to use them to
improve one's own performance and enhance the chance of international
selection," said one cricketer of 24.

However, a swimmer reflected the views of many when hewrote: "The
relaxing of drug laws would put tremendous pressure on people to take
drugs, or else they would be driven from the sport and we will be left
with a hard core of people who . will depend entirely on the correct
cocktails of drugs rather than the correct combination of training. To
me, this is not what sport is about and it should not be
encouraged."

Checked-by: derek rea