THE star of tonight’s Fortis Golden Series meeting at Foote’s Lane has dismissed controversial claims by disgraced drug cheat Dwain Chambers. Craig Pickering is aiming to win a sprint medal for Britain at the 2012 Olympics in London and insists he will do it clean.
Chambers claimed during an interview on BBC TV’s Inside Sport programme on Monday night that there will always be athletes using performance-enhancing drugs because the scientists would remain one step ahead of the testers.
The former European 100m champion, who served a two-year ban for taking the designer steroid THG in 2003, admitted being willing to take a chance and being under the assumption that he would not get caught.
When asked whether a clean athlete was likely to beat one using drugs in an Olympic final, Chambers said: ‘It’s possible, but the person that’s taken drugs has to be having a really bad day. That’s what I believe.’
But Pickering, 20, the European junior [under-20] 100m champion and current UK senior indoor 60m champion, hit back at the claims yesterday on the eve of his first appearance in Guernsey.
‘There is a good chance of me making the Olympic final and maybe getting a medal, but I would have to run 9.9 seconds in London,’ he said. ‘I will just have to prove him wrong. He is a drugs cheat himself and should keep his mouth shut. I’m not taking drugs and it’s not a portable excuse.
‘Stop taking them and stay away from the sport,’ he advised drug cheats.
‘The reason I do athletics is not to be the first white man under 10 seconds but to win medals.’
Pickering, one of the fastest men in Europe, is excited about the prospect of running at Foote’s Lane.
‘I’m quite looking forward to it - we managed to fit it into the race plan. I would like to break the 10.7 all-comers’ record. I can’t see why I can’t race 10.2 or 10.3 with the right conditions,’ he said.
Pickering had options to race elsewhere tonight, but decided to opt out of racing against fellow Brits Mark Lewis-Francis and Jason Gardener at the Artur Takac Memorial meeting in Belgrade and instead compete in the lower-key event here.
He is preparing for the big televised Norwich Union International meeting in Glasgow on Sunday and did not want the burden of all the extra travelling.
And he believes Hampshire 100m and 200m champion Ben Ellis, who has run about 10.5sec, will provide decent competition on the Foote’s Lane track.
They are expected to go head-to-head at 7.50pm.
The main Golden Series meeting runs from 7 to 9pm.
Pickering is hoping to race under 10.20sec this season and to make the World Championships in August.
Article posted on 30th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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