Athletics: Drug-taking still haunts Snell's sport

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Running legend Peter Snell does not expect to see a mile run in under 3m 40s in his lifetime. Talk of 3m 30s, he says, is ridiculous.

"The body is not designed to go that fast," said Snell. "Particularly, the lungs are not designed for that."

But he is not discounting drugs having played a role in getting middle-distance times down.

"Drug-affected records could have been set. We don't know. There have been some outstanding times by women sprinters and with it talk of drug-taking."

The triple Olympic gold medallist returns to his home in Dallas, Texas, tomorrow after a week in Auckland in which he was guest of honour at the Peter Snell Institute of Sport dinner and fundraising auction. Ten young sportsmen and women were awarded scholarships at the function.

Snell twice broke the mile record (in 1962 and 1964) during the 21-year period it was lowered from Roger Bannister's 3m 59.42s (the first sub-four minute record) to John Walker's first sub-3m 50s (3m 49.4s) mark. He still holds the New Zealand 800-metre record of 1m 44.3s, which he set in 1962.

He believes it will not be runners like himself or Walker who will break the mile record, which stands at 3m 43.13s and was set almost two years ago by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj.

"The record-breakers will be the slight greyhound types and high-altitude natives. The name of the game is improving aerobic energy by the improved performance of the heart in pumping oxygen."

Snell said that erythropoietin (EPO) was a greater threat than performance-enhancing and other drugs on the banned list.

"I feel a lot of stuff on the list of banned drugs - like caffeine - is ridiculous. There is a feeling on the streets that drug-taking is rife. The enforcers don't know because their view is that it [testing] is working.

"But I do believe they have to continue their efforts to find a satisfactory test for EPO,"said Snell. "EPO helps in the conversion of red cells to plasma. If not checked it can get dangerously high."

Snell said one of the saddest aspects of the drugs in sport issue was the attitude of some Americans.

"I understand that when some kids were asked that if they could take drugs which would guarantee them an Olympic gold medal - but as a result they would be dead within five years - they said they would willingly take that risk. That's scary."