Dick 'despairs' after Gatlin scandal
Coaching guru Frank Dick has expressed his disappointment and surprise at the news Olympic 100metres champion Justin Gatlin has tested positive for testosterone.
Dick, who guided the fortunes of British athletics during the halcyon years of the late 1970s and 1980s, was stunned when hearing the 24-year-old American star failed a test at the Kansas Relays in April.
“We don’t know if he is guilty but I despair everytime this happens,” said Dick, who was technical director at the 1988 Olympic Games when Ben Johnson, the world’s most infamous drug cheat, was exposed for using stanozolol.
Like many others, Dick felt the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative THG scandal three years ago and the subsequent suspension of many top athletes would have taught competitors that science can catch cheats.
He said: “You’d think they would have learned from that, so I’m wondering why the new generation coming through although knowing the rules, still jump at the chance to cheat.
“I despair every time this happens and every time it does, it tarnishes the reputation of track and field.
“People are now going to compare it with cycling, particularly after what happened with Floyd Landis in the Tour de France.
“It is another example of what can happen through the acts of a bent group of people.
“Of any athlete to fail a drugs test, I am very disappointed and surprised it is Gatlin,” he said of the join world 100metres record holder.
