The latest athletics doping scandal involving THG may turn out to involve

a record-breaking number of athletes but it certainly won't be the last.

The response of accused athletes and coaches accused is either a straightforward denial or to claim ignorance.

Looking at the physiques of so many modern top athletes, can anyone believe they are solely the result of improved training techniques?

From spectators through to competitors the scandal of modern athletics is that so long as it's not mentioned in public, nobody cares that performance is as much about advances in the laboratory as it is of individual endeavour.

Richard Lamb,

Greystoke Road,

York.

Updated: 11:10 Tuesday, October 28, 2003