Whitlock: My drink was spiked

Whitlock sits dejected with coach Brian Hooper

Pole vaulter Janine Whitlock has insisted her positive drugs test was the result of someone spiking her sports drink.

Whitlock tested positive for the anabolic steroid Dianabol at the Commonwealth Games trials last month.

Her only income - a Lottery grant - was suspended on Thursday.

I'm trying to be strong but it's pretty easy to set me off

Janine Whitlock

Whitlock told the Daily Mail newspaper: "Sometimes when my mind's on something else it's as if it hasn't happened, that it's not real.

"Then I think of what's ahead and I get very upset.

"Of course I can't be 100% certain that anybody did that to me (spiked her drink) but I can't see any other way.

Whitlock facing two-year ban

"If it wasn't me, it has to be somebody else. I will be banned and we will never find out for sure - but what other explanation is there?

"You can't lock (drinks) away every time you take a vault, so it's possible."

Whitlock knows if her second sample also comes back positive she faces a two-year ban from competition.

Ironically, there was no need for her to compete at the trials where she tested positive.

Moorcroft defends drugs stance

England's performance director John Vernon had assured her she would be selected for the Commonweath Games regardless of whether she took part in the trials.

"It was just that it was Manchester before the Commonwealth Games, a new stadium and anyway, I love competing," said Whitlock.

"If only I'd known. I was so close that week to not competing. Then none of this would have happened."

Whitlock has asked for her B sample to be analysed in the presence of her lawyer.