In article , Allan Bennett
wrote:



HeadLine Inside Lines
Publication Independent on Sunday Date 23/10/2005
Byline by Alan Hubbard Sports Diarist of the Year

'Legalise drugs' row coach wins UK job

The curious appointment of a coach who apparently advocates the legalising
of doping has caused ripples of concern in the waters of British canoeing.
The Bulgarian-born Krassimir Ivanov, who coached a Belgian kayak pair to
the Olympic finals in Athens, has been given a full-time post with the
British Canoe Union despite an interview in a Belgian sports journal in
which he is quoted as saying: 'Doping should be freely allowed... then
nearly everyone will do it but it will eventually reduce the chances that
drugs will be taken because everyone will know what everyone else is
doing.' This has led to calls for his suspension and an investigation by
concerned voices within the sport. However Ivanov, now a naturalised
Belgian, vehemently denies administering or being involved with drugs, even
in his Iron Curtain days, and UK Sport, the body responsible for enforcing
Britain's anti-doping regulations, say: 'We are satisfied that no athlete
under his direction has ever tested positive for banned substances, nor has
he encouraged their use. At worst he could be naive in answering
hypothetical questions on how sport might look if there was no drugs
testing.' So paddle power, not peddle power, eh?


To The Chair of UKSport,

I have read Alan Hubbard's 'Inside Lines' in the Independent on Sunday 23
October.

I note with incredulity and dismay the reported official remarks made by
UKSport regarding Krassimir Ivanov and his drugs philosophies.

Your claim that Ivanov was reacting naively to hypothetical questions is not
reflected by the facts and does not stand up to scrutiny. It betrays one of
the following:

? Your own appalling naivety
? Your crass ignorance of the situation and disregard for British
sport
? Your obtuse and sinister desire to protect the corrupt system that
you have imposed upon our sport.

So, which one is it?

Ivanov was not demonstrating any naivety - he made his pronouncements on
Radio 1, repeated them in the Sunday papers and again in interviews in
sporting and cycling journals - not just the one translation I circulated
(see articles dated 16.01.05; 17.01.05; 05.02.05; 25.02.05; 11.05.05). In
those articles are overt contradictions to the official line which give cause
for concern. Let me know if you want them translated.

It's all documented.

In your own naivety in supporting this man - by virtue of the fact that
paddlers under his care have not tested positive for drugs - you neglect to
point out that he admits to taking drugs himself (yes, it's documented), but
that he was not caught, either! You avoid the obvious inference that he, his
paddlers and the system within which he works will be tainted, both by his
past abuses and his current pronouncements. Suspicion will follow him around
and all those that work with him will be stigmatised.

So, too, will British sport in general and 2012 in particular.

The Belgian Federation dismissed him because of his public views, so there is
still some honour and integrity left within canoeing.

But not in the BCU.

? On the one hand Ivanov boasts about his personal achievements in canoeing,
yet admits that he was taking performance-enhancing drugs.

? He claims that he didn't know he was taking drugs (what is the official
policy about personal responsibility, again?), yet he is also quoted as
saying that anyone who refused to take them was 'sent home'. Some /were/
sent home, he says, so there were some athletes with integrity.

But not Krassimir Ivanov.

? He claims that the drugs have not had any detrimental affect on his body
and quotes American sprinter Tim Montgomery who has declared that he doesn't
care if he dies young, as long as he wins Gold.

? He claims that he discourages his athletes from taking drugs, but... "..I
often say to my athletes that doping should be allowed."

? These drug-assisted athletes have already denied our paddlers medals, now
they are being rewarded for their performances and are denying our
ex-paddlers coaching jobs. All this in the backdrop of the news that a
canoeing World Champion and Olympic medallist (Baggaley) has recently tested
positive for performance-enhancing drugs. How do you think our medallists
feel, knowing that they were beaten by a cheat?

? We already have an incident of an ex-Eastern Bloc coach (employed by
UKSport / BCU) allegedly telling a paddler that "you won't get anywhere
unless you take something..." - that paddler, by the way, changed his
University plans so that he would not be under the direction of that coach.

These statements by Ivanov are dangerous and irresponsible and not compatible
with the trusting relationship a coach has with sport and our young and
vulnerable athletes.

Ivanov is a man whom we are asking to look after the welfare of our paddlers,
yet in taking the boats away from his previous charges, he demonstrates a
vindictive and callous disregard for those under his care.

If UKSport is serious about their drugs policy, this man will be dismissed
forthwith. And you will resign for defending him and putting our sport and
our young paddlers at risk.


Dr Allan Bennett
Canoe Club Chairman
Coach to talented athletes
--