Thorpe drawing flak over doping accusation
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-30 06:14

Triple Olympic gold medallist Ian Thorpe's claim that some of the swimmers he will come up against in Athens next month will have taken drugs has landed him in hot water with the sport's governing body FINA.

In an interview with Australian television on Tuesday Thorpe asserted: "It would be naive to think that everyone's going to be clean at the Olympic Games.

"Of course I've swum against doped athletes."

The 21-year-old's remarks provoked a stinging response from FINA which said in a statement that it "regretted" the Australian swimming champion's remarks.

"(Thorpe's) attitude is unacceptable because he's accusing all the swimmers picked for the Olympic Games of being doped without any proof," the statement added.

The Lausanne-based umbrella body pointed out it has been at the forefront of the fight against drugs.

"What's more, in cooperation with the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA), it's established a vast control programme in and out of competition with significant results," FINA added.

Former multiple Olympic gold medallist Janet Evans also took issue with Thorpe in her capacity as president of FINA's athletes' commission.

"I don't agree with his claim. FINA's anti-doping policy does as much as it can to ensure that swimmers will be clean at the Games," she argued.

"I sincerely believe swimming is a clean sport."

Thorpe's skepticism about drugs in swimming is nothing new - in the run-up to last year's world championships in Barcelona he raised similar doubts.

"There are thousands of swimmers here and to think that all swimmers are clean is just naive," said Thorpe, who went on to win three gold medals in Spain.

He said cheats were ruining the sport for future generations.

"When I was a kid I used to look up to swimmers, now when you go out there and an athlete wins something it doesn't really inspire people like it inspired us when we were young."

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