World Athletics chief Seb Coe has rubbished plans for a doping Olympics, the Enhanced Games, as “bollocks”.
The former Olympic champion was speaking ahead of this weekend’s World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
“It’s bollocks. I can’t really get excited about it,” Coe said.
“There’s only one message and that is if anyone is moronic enough to want to take part in that and are from the traditional, philosophical end of our sport they’ll get banned. And they’ll get banned for a long time.”
Coe added: “There are crazy things happening in other sectors, we will occasionally get them [too].
“I really don’t get sleepless nights over it, it’s not going to be a page turner is it?”
Coe’s response
The Enhanced Games – backed by the likes of PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, life sciences and psychedelics investor Christian Angermayer’s Apieron Investment Group and former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan – aims to allow athletes to compete with performance enhancing drugs.
They argue that anti-doping policies are restricting the potential of athletes.
Former Olympian James Magnussen has said he’d happily be the poster boy of the project, which was founded by London-based lawyer Aron D’Souza.
The Enhanced Games were approached for comment.