If athletes are found to have taken performance enhancing drugs, then they should be banned for two years, even if they are British.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Anabolic steroids were not banned until after the 72 Olympics.
Football, basketball, and the Olympic sports all have their problems with banned substances.
I never took banned substances, but I have been courted by doctors who wanted to improve my blood in the laboratory. My mother always put them on a flight.
I don't think there are really enough meetings in Britain for our athletes to compete properly, and because of this a lot of the talent we have has been stunted.
My guess is many top athletes, distance runners included, use performance-enhancing drugs, enough so that the problem must be tackled.
And then you have the responsibility and the duty of being good examples to youngsters, not smoke, training hard, go to bed early, don't drink alcohol, don't take drugs, it's very important to have a policy for educating against doping.
In fact cycling has always been 'saved' by judicial investigations and not by the anti-doping controls we put in place. That's the harsh truth. We have relied on them to clean the sport up.
We need to make sure parents and coaches are aware of the dangers an on the look-out for the warning signs. Performance enhancing drugs are too damaging to young people for parents and coaches to not be involved.
Performance-enhancing drugs are an illusion. I wish I had never gotten involved with steroids. It was wrong. It was stupid.
My stance has always been that there's no place in our sport for drug users. I've always said it's a ban for life if you come up positive. I stand by that.