Hooper backs Whitlock

Hooper (right) believes Whitlock is innocent

Janine Whitlock's coach has insisted the pole vaulter is not a drugs cheat.

The 28-year-old has tested positive for the anabolic steroid dianabol and faces a two-year ban if tests on her B sample prove conclusive.

But Whitlock has protested her innocence, claiming the banned substance could have got into her system after a sports drink was spiked.

Whitlock protests innocence

Her coach, former pole vaulter Brian Hooper, is just as adamant she is guilty of no wrongdoing.

He told BBC Radio Five Live: "Either there's a mistake in the science, which is very unlikely given the substance involved here.

"Dianabol, which is one of the oldest and most easily-detectable of these sort of drugs - or it has got there by unfair means.

Unguarded

"What I can say with absolute certainty is that she has never taken it and would never consider using drugs to improve her performance."

Hooper believes that, unlikely as it may seem, the drug could have been added to Whitlock's bottle after she left it unguarded.

Because of the IAAF's strict liability rule, Whitlock will be banned for two years if the B sample confirms the drug was in her system, regardless of how it got there.

Father leaps to Whitlock's defence

However, Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, was sceptical about the spiked drink claim.

"It's the usual defence," he told the same programme.

"If it's not the drinks, it's the food supplements, and if it's not the drinks and it's not the supplements, then they just don't know how the drug came in their body.

"For experts, this is not a very serious defence. I don't know the file, of course, but let's wait and see what the experts will decide on this.