Drug taking remains a part of international athletics scene

Press, 17 May 1989, Page 32

Drug taking remains a part of international athletics scene

By

PETER NICHOLS

of “The Observer.”

It is an unlikely setting, a quiet Dutch suburb that breathes a gentle air of prosperity, a street of tall houses half-hidden by bristling hedges. The greeting, initially, is a warm one; I am ushered in like, an old friend. Only when the point of the visit is outlined does the atmosphere change. “It is odd questions that you are asking,” my Dutch host says, with a palpable show of nervousness. Yet he talks, conscious of his dilemma: while he would like the topic to be broached openly, he knows that in the current climate it cannot happen. This Dutchman advises athletes on drug-taking. To bring it closer to home, he also advises British athletes on drug taking.. He won’t be specific about names or numbers. “A few,” he says of the Britons on one occasion. “Not 10, not five,” on another. He does not conform to the popular image of a man in his position; a .. sinister figure entwined in a world of clandestine dealings. He presents his arguments in straightforward, reasonable manner. He simply believes that drugs in sport will never go away. "Therefore,” he

says, “I think it is better for the athlete to be educated.” While he refuses to take any money from the athletes he helps, in every other sense he is quick to emphasise the professionalism of his approach. The education process begins when an athlete comes to him: “The first step is to send the athlete to a good doctor and together you can provide the advice.” That advice includes the drug to take, the dosage cycles, when to decrease training and how to avoid detection. “When they are going to high-level competition, I give them advice how to beat the drug tests.” There are drugs available, he stresses, that pass through the body in a maximum of four days. He is less forthcoming on the topic of masking agents, “If there are any;” she says cagily. He advises only throwers, sprinters and jumpers, though he insists that long-distance runners are not immune. He does not accept that the risks to the athlete are significant. “We are not talking about body

builders,” he says, “we are talking about athletes who take very, very low doses — 10 to 20 milligrams a day. I think the risks are very, very low. If there are risks.” The problem he believes, occur when the athletes try to organise their drug-taking unaided. “Then they take a lot of drugs, probably the wrong drugs and they go to the black market to get them. "That’s wrong, you know. When a doctor is giving them drugs under control, with blood samples and so on and so on, it’s the best you can do.” The majority of British athletes who use Steroids get their information, he suggests, from the United States. Moral considerations play only a small part in his philosophy. “The whole thing is blown up by people. Holland is one of the countries where people think realistically about drugs, perhaps the only country. Don’t blow it up. "I am convinced that it is not dangerous when you give them good advice, when it is in the

hands of a good doctor, but don’t say that to Donike, or Beckett or Brooks (campaigning doctors against drugs).” Yet, while he proclaims no moral waverings, he is concerned about his image. “I am not the man behind the screen,” he says on several occasions during the interview, keen to emphasise that he does not wield any needles himself, and is unhappy to have his name mentioned, saying: "I think it could produce problems with my job.” And continually he draws the conversation back to the practicalities. “I am convinced that in the throwing events, in sprinting, especially 100 metres and 200 metres, and in some jumping events, it is impossible to reach world standard without drugs. Really it’s impossible. “I’ve seen so many examples of people who are training very, very hard in javelin or discus. They take drugs and the distances go up — from 55 metres to 65 metres in discus. “At the moment, if you want to be a high-level athlete, you have to make a choice. If you don’t want to do that (take drugs), take up snooker or archery ...”