Jesse's first-hand expose on drugs in sport

I wonder how far most athletes would go without water? Not far, eh? Is this a performance-enhancing substance?

Ian Thorpe has a profile and will beat the rap, I am sure. What I am not sure about is the world doping people - Dick Pound and all his hysterical mates.

Most don’t know just how restrictive the rules are.

• You cant even have antibiotics without permission.
• Ventolin is a no-no without a letter from a specialist.
• A doctor I know had to arrange for his son and a few others to travel 300 kilos to meet with this great man who can say if you can have an over the counter med.

During a recent scandal over a cyclist, I personally saw people traumatised by their treatment at the hands of the press and the testing regime. I raced cycles for many years, and in one of the toughest races in the world, Marco Pantini had his hotel room door kicked in at three in the morning more than once! Never was he ever proved to have anything other than high haemoglobin (regarding which, as a mater of interest, mine is higher than his, and that is just me). Anyway, he was hounded until he took his life after all this. Was this any way to treat the only man who possibly was a match for a man called Armstrong?

The drugs at this level is overseen and prescribed, not by the athletes but hungry governments, teams, and their hangers-on. I have sat through these Government drugs-in-sport shows and it is more like an old time religion session, with high profile people delivering the emotive message. Pee in a bottle, pants off, shirt up, legs spread (if you are a girl) - all this with somone you may not know or have never met before!

See the anti-doping leaflets from the world doping people - 'oh what a feeling', I am sure. The process is dehumanising and has got to the point of hysteria. My son was 14 and might have had to submit to this type of treatment just to get a life ban because he took a nasal spray. That's great for your anxiety levels, to know you may be on the front of the paper any time in the next few years, for all the wrong reasons.

It is time that the public knew how stupid we have become. As I look back, I would find old gentlemen who in there eightieth year would show most bike riders a thing or two but might test positive today. Many old riders I have met have made it in to there eighties plus and would be called health nuts, but may well have fallen foul of the current laws.

Lets get back to that water. Your body needs it, right, and many other things to operate effectively, so why is this denied to people who are trying to improve the human condition?

The truth is that if it was legal to use these things, they could be regulated I don’t mean things like stimulants and steroids, but over the counter stuff and prescribed medications should be free of penalty.

Gee! I just know this is like putting my head in a beehive, but I feel strongly that we have gone too far, and we as the public need to understand athletes are people too.