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Drug tests welcomed by sprint kings but Canada says it's too much
SYDNEY, Sept 11 (AFP) - Sprint kings Ato Boldon and Jon Drummond Monday welcomed an Olympic drug crackdown, predicting Sydney would be a clean Games, but Canadian officials complained a new testing regime had "gone overboard". Trinidadian Boldon, the 1996 100m and 200m bronze medallist, said he believed the 2000 Olympics would avoid the sort of incident that blighted Seoul in 1988 when Ben Johnson tested positive for an anabolic steroid. "I think this sport is a lot cleaner in 2000 than it was in 1988. I can say that with certainty," Boldon said on arrival at Sydney Airport. American Drummond, a 1996 Olympic 4x100m relay silver medallist, applauded the International Olympic Committee for spending more money on drug testing. "So if this is not the cleanest Olympic Games, I don't know what is, or what will be," he said. "The thing I like about this most is that they (the IOC) have taken the initiative to stop the madness. "I think we've been getting a rap over the years and I think it's about time that some positive things come from this." Canada's head Olympic track and field head coach, though, hit out at the testing program, claiming it had "gone overboard" and was disrupting the training of his elite athletes. Attending his fourth Olympics as a coach, Brent McFarlane said that since arriving in Australia two weeks ago more than 30 tests have been carried out on the Canadian track and field team. "Drug testing has been going on non-stop," he said. "We walked in the door to our dorms, where we had 21 athletes, and sixteen were tested. "Right now they are testing sixteen more. Some of our kids were tested before they left Canada. I don't know how many times you can pee in a bottle. I think we are going overboard right now." Reigning Canadian 100m Olympic champion Donovan Bailey was woken up on the night he arrived in Australia to provide a urine sample. "Oh man that really messed up my sleeping pattern for the next four days," said Bailey, adding that he had no problems with tests, just the timing of them.
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