Australia battle doping fallout

SYDNEY (AFP) – Doping agencies urged Australian cheats to come clean Friday as concern mounted that everyone has been tarred with the same brush after a probe pointed to widespread drug use in professional sport.

The bombshell Australian Crime Commission inquiry, which said use of prohibited substances including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs was common across multiple sporting codes, has sent shockwaves through Australia.

“Blackest day in sport”, ran the Sydney Morning Herald headline while the tabloid Sydney Daily Telegraph screamed: “Sport on Trial.”

The broadsheet Australian newspaper said doping threatened the sporting culture of a nation that has long had a reputation as being predominantly drugs-free.

“The report will alarm a sport-loving nation that prides itself on the prowess and fairness of its athletes,” it said in an editorial.

The official report indicated that sports scientists, coaches and support staff as well as doctors and pharmacists were involved in the provision of drugs, which were often supplied by organised criminal gangs.

World Anti-Doping Agency president John Fahey said tougher penalties were expected to be adopted by his organisation in response to the growing use of new-generation, performance-enhancing drugs such as peptides.