World Athletics president Sebastian Coe has scoffed at the premise of the 'Enhanced Games', a proposed Olympic-style event that will allow athletes to use substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
"Well, it's bollocks, isn't it?" Coe said at a press conference before this weekend's world indoor athletics championships at Glasgow.
"I can't really get excited about it. There's only one message and that is, if anybody is moronic enough to feel that they want to take part in that and they are from the traditional, philosophical end of our sport, they'll get banned and they'll get banned for a long time."
The doping-permitted event would target the "hypocritical, corrupt and dysfunctional" Olympics, and give athletes the opportunity to "push the limits of humanity," said Enhanced Games President Aron D'Souza.
Retired world champion swimmer James Magnussen has agreed to take performance-enhancing drugs to make an attempt at beating Cesar Cielo's 15-year-old 50m freestyle world record, with a US$1 million incentive.
A fierce anti-doping advocate, Coe has not minced his words with his dismissal of the event.
"I'm sure there are crazy things happening in other sectors, we occasionally get them," he said. "I really don't get sleepless nights over it.
"It's not going to be a page-turner, is it?"
The world indoor championships will run from Friday until Sunday at Glasgow's Emirates Arena.
Reuters
