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Fury at drug cheat Linford's Olympic role
Jason Beattie, Chief Political Correspondent22.02.08
Mayor Ken Livingstone is under pressure to drop disgraced sprinter Linford Christie from the Olympic torch procession.
Mr Livingstone has invited the drugs cheat to carry the torch when it comes to London in April ahead of this summer's Beijing Games.
But furious Olympic chiefs are demanding that Christie, 47, should not be part of the relay that includes Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Trevor McDonald.
Christie received a two-year international ban in 1999 for using steroids and a subsequent lifetime ban by the British Olympic Association. Unless the invitation is withdrawn he will be one of 80 carrying the torch through the capital as part of an 85,000-mile global journey ahead of the Chinese Games.
International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said it was "surprised and disappointed" at the invitation.
"The IOC has not been consulted about this and we wish we had been as we would have certainly strongly recommended not to give an invitation to an athlete who has an Olympic ban," she said.
Colin Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association, said: "I have been crystal clear at Olympic board level that no banned athlete should be allowed to carry the flame."
Lord Moynihan is understood to have raised objections at last week's meeting of the board which includes Mr Livingstone, Lord Coe and Olympics minister Tessa Jowell.
"I could not feel more strongly on the subject. His invitation should be withdrawn," Lord Moynihan said.
Shadow sports minister Hugh Robertson called on Ms Jowell to overturn the Mayor's "ill-conceived" invitation.
"It is extraordinarily perverse of the Mayor to select someone banned from the Olympic Games for drug offences to act as a standard bearer for the London Olympic torch relay.
"It sends out totally the wrong message to young people about drug cheats and to the world in general about the values that will underpin London 2012," he said. According to The Times, the Mayor's office would not confirm the invitation but Christie's agent, Sue Barrett, said he received it last year.
"Yes, they have invited him," Ms Barrett said. "If he is around, he would be delighted to accept. We will know his schedule in a couple of weeks." The Mayor's office was unavailable for comment.
Christie won the 100-metre gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Since August 2006, he has been working as a "mentor" for UK Athletics in the builLondon Games. He was in semiretirement when he tested positive for nandrolene at a meeting in Germany nine years ago. He has always protested his innocence.
The London Olympic Organising Committee, chaired by Lord Coe, said: "The invite did not come from us."
Reader views (2)
Linford Christie is a perfect candidate to carry the Olympic torch. He represents a discredited sport and an outdated movement which has no credibility amongst serious sports fans.
So he should stay as torch bearer.
- Darren, london
It's par for the course...it's all madness anyway.
- Soho, London
