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MOSCOW. — Former 100 metres world record-holder Donovan Bailey said yesterday that Turkey had a lot of work to do in resolving their doping problem but added they should be credited with tackling it head on. The 45-year-old Canadian, who won 100m Olympic gold in 1996 and the world crown in 1995, knows the athletics set up in Turkey well, having raced there for the Istanbul-based Fenerbahce club in the early 1990s.
The banning last week of 31 Turkish athletes for doping offences has in the opinion of some International Olympic Committee (IOC) members placed a question mark over Istanbul’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

Their opinion is crucial as they will vote in Buenos Aires on September 7 to decide whether to award the 2020 Games to Istanbul, Madrid or Tokyo.

But Bailey believes that despite embarrassing headlines and work to be done to stamp out dope cheats, Turkey had come a long way since he raced there.

“When I was there, there was no evidence of widespread drug use,” said Bailey, who along with his Fenerbahce teammates still holds the national 4x100m relay record.

“But there were also no grassroots or development programmes in places like Jamaica.
“My programme was from my coach and my Turkish teammates trained from that programme. The athletes had no coaching, poor facilities, no expert nutritionists and definitely no therapy.

“Now the government is investing properly in the grassroots and elite level training, sourcing the best coaches and expert advice to my understanding. They are giving young Turkish athletes what they need to succeed in the right way — the clean way.”

Bailey, who with Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt is the only 100m world champion never to be associated with doping, said that based on the work being done, Istanbul’s candidacy did not deserve to be punished.

“Based on the government programme that I understand is in place right now, I have to believe that doping will not be an issue in Turkey by 2020,” said Bailey. — AFP.