Whitlock and Wilkins face drug bans on eve of games

On the eve of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, the biggest event to be held in Britain since 1948, UK Athletics was forced to admit that two British record-holders had tested positive for banned performance-enhancing drugs.

The pole vaulter Janine Whitlock, the most prolific breaker of British records in modern history, and the discus thrower Perriss Wilkins face bans after both tested positive for anabolic steroids.

The news is set to overshadow the build-up to the games and brings back memories of when England sent home Diane Modahl and Paul Edwards from the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria after they had tested positive for drugs, although Modahl was later cleared.

Whitlock was one of England's biggest hopes for a gold medal. She had established herself as the favourite during the Commonwealth trials in Manchester on June 16 when she jumped 4.41 metres, the 36th British record of her career, in the process beating Australia's Olympic silver medallist Tatiana Grigorieva.

It was a performance which earned the 28-year-old Whitlock the reward of a Rover car. One of the conditions of receiving the bonus, however, was that she had to pass a drugs test.

But she tested positive for methandienone, a drug marketed as Dianabol and once a favourite of Ben Johnson's, but which is easily detectable by the modern mass spectrometers used in labs worldwide. Now, instead of a new car, she is likely to receive a two-year ban.

She has yet to be suspended by UK Athletics because she has until Friday to tell it whether she wants the B-sample tested and until next Tuesday to advise the sport's drugs advisory officer whether she believes there are mitigating factors. As this is only two days before the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, UK Athletics has to act swiftly.

"If the DAO believes there is a case to answer, then the athlete will be suspended pending the result of an independent disciplinary committee," UK Athletics said in a statement. "If the DAO does not believe there is a case to answer, then the case will be dismissed."

Whitlock had ignored advice from UK Athletics and competed in the European trials and AAA Championships on Saturday. She overcame the impending news of her positive test to win her sixth title with a clearance of 4.35m before failing to set a UK record of 4.60m.

Immediately afterwards she dissolved in floods of tears in the arms of her coach Brian Hooper, the former UK record holder with whom she has been working since April and to whom she had credited her improvement this season.

She had moved from her home in Dewsbury to Woking to be nearer Hooper, best remembered as a former winner of Superstars in the 70s. She had previously been coached by Steve Rippon, the Australian coach who runs the UK Athletics high-performance centre at Loughborough University, and by her father Tony. But a friend of hers said that relations had been strained recently between her and her father, who was upset that she had been working with Hooper.

Whitlock returned to the stadium yesterday to watch the men's pole vault but again burst into tears when she was asked whether she wanted to say anything. "Thank you very much but I'd rather not comment," she said. UK Athletics is so concerned about her mental state that it has assigned a psychologist to monitor her.

Those close to the case believe that Whitlock will be suspended. Also, unlike the cases involving the former Olympic 100 metres champion Linford Christie and Europe's No1 400m runner Mark Richardson, she will not be able to argue that she had ingested the drug by mistake in a health supplement.

Instead it is believed she intends to claim it was sabotage by a close family member, just as the sprinter John Skeete did last year when he tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol. His father has admitted spiking his health supplement but Skeete is still serving a two-year ban.

The fact that Wilkins has failed a test, also for methandienone, is less of a surprise. In 1999 he was investigated by the sport after trying to substitute a lighter discus in the AAA Championships, in which he finished sixth. He has also previously lied about his age and the spelling of his name to the sport's officials.

The 34-year-old from Banbury also has a reputation for throwing well in minor meetings where there is no drugs testing. He set his current UK record of 66.64m at a Midland League First Division fixture in Birmingham University four years ago.

Wilkins tested positive in an out-of-competition test on May 21 and was officially suspended on June 11. But he did not find out until he tried to compete in the Commonwealth trials a few days later and was turned away by officials. He is due to have a hearing in the next few days.

Other Britons banned for steroids

Jeff Gutteridge (pole vault, 1988): life ban later commuted to two years

Jason Livingston (sprinter, 1992): four-year ban

Paul Edwards (shot putter, 1994-97): life ban

Diane Modahl (800m, 1994): two-year ban before being cleared

Gary Cadogan (400m hurdler, 1998): two-year ban

Dougie Walker (200m, 1998): two-year ban

Linford Christie (sprinter, 1999) : two-year ban. Claimed to have ingested nandrolone in avocado before saying it was a dietary product

Mark Richardson (400m, 1999): two-year ban, lifted after an appeal to the IAAF

Mark Findlay (sprinter, 2000): two-year ban

John Skeete (sprinter, 2001): two-year ban

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