BETRAYAL OF THE TRACK FANS' FAITH

Annecy in France, just south of Geneva, is the destination for 400-odd indefatigable followers of the national ­athletics squad, who compete in the European Cup, the sport’s major team event.

If you want to guess how testing and soul-searching it must be supporting this drug-addled business, consider this; Britain’s men won the last time the competition was held there in 2002 but have had the victory taken away because it involved Dwain Chambers, the notorious chemically-fuelled sprinter who now hopes to stain Britain’s Olympics this summer as well.

People marvel at the passion of British football followers, who are absent from Euro 2008. But surely it takes a unique devotion to keep the faith for track and field when cheats mock fans who love their sport purely for its own sake.

As Beijing’s Games approach, Marion Jones stews in a Texas jail after being stripped of her three golds from Sydney 2000 following her conviction for lying about steroid abuses by the infamous San Francisco BALCO laboratory.

Her former coach Trevor Graham may follow her inside because of his involvement in ­getting disgraced sprint pair Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin on to the needle. Meanwhile, Chambers – who has served a two-year ban – threatens a ­headline-grabbing court bid to bust his way uninvited into Britain’s team for China.

This is the background that makes much of the wider public view the coming Olympiad with scepticism, or even disdain.

Against the doubt, Sandra Hogben of the British Athletics Supporters Club argues: “People didn’t stop following Manchester United when Rio Ferdinand missed his drugs test, did they? Yes, our belief in the sport is mocked when people use drugs. But we won’t let them take it away from us.

“People who love athletics do so because they just love it. Many have been competitors themselves. If it is your sport of choice, you support it through thick and thin.

“We would all much rather it was clean. And I was shocked to discover in the BALCO case the lengths they went to so they could cover up. But in Britain, by and large, it has been clean. Chambers is a bit of a one-off. Few people here that we know of have taken drugs, and we have a stringent testing set-up.”

According to Mike Lee, PR guru of London’s successful bid for the 2012 Games, one factor which swung the vote was the size, noise and good nature of the British contingent in the Athens ­stadium four years ago. It’s not The Kop, of course, but it’s no less noble.

They will be the largest group in the stands in Annecy, defying a decline in their sport summed up by Steve Cram this week like this: “There is not one event where a European male track athlete is ranked as favourite to win in Beijing, or is likely to. And perhaps only two among the women.”

Against this, there is the ­emergence of Andy Baddely to provide hope Britain will make some mark at middle ­distance. Winner recently of Oslo’s ­venerated Dream Mile and competing in the 3,000 metres this weekend, a runner with a computer chip inserted to ­correct a heart defect is a good, big headline waiting to happen. Yet the withdrawal of Zara Phillips from the equestrian team, and Paula Radcliffe’s battle to be fit have removed a thick layer of lustre from Beijing for that broader British armchair public.

Protests about Tibet and the ugly ­spectacle of Chinese security goons barging through London with the torch recently have soured the anticipation. If Chambers selfishly drags the British Olympic ­movement through the High Court, the compulsion to turn off will increase.

Crassly, some spectators roared in ­support of Chambers’ comeback in January. Their sport cannot afford such stupidity and Hogben added: “I don’t want ­anyone who has used drugs representing us at the Olympics, although he has to earn a living.”

This is the inherent decency of athletics’ fans, which the cheats insult. Whatever ­happens in Annecy, the heroic faith of the supporters should be celebrated before it is swamped in Beijing.

PS...

INFLATION is running at a ­vastly higher rate than the 3.3 per cent announced this week. How else do we explain the rise in the projected cost of London’s Olympic stadium from £280million at bid time in 2005 to the £525m proposed in Mayor Boris Johnson’s financial study on Wednesday?

In contrast, South Africa is building five new stadiums and upgrading five more for the 2010 World Cup for £640m. If this carries on, the public will despise the Games by 2012.