Letter: Shot in the arm for the Olympics

Sir: It's the season of athletes and drugs once again, all very predictable and for many of us very boring too. The problem, if problem it is, will never go away and since you can't beat it why not join in wholeheartedly?

I give you The Drugs Olympics. This will be a strictly no- chemical-holds-barred event: any and every drug in any quantity is permitted. Only straightforward medicinal aids such as springs in your shoes are banned.

At last we shall discover what the human body, suitably boosted metabolically, can achieve. Just imagine it: gigantic shotputters tossing the puny steel ball halfway across the stadium, men hurtling down the 100 metres in seven seconds, 20-metre long jumps, the three-minute mile or beyond] So, some may collapse at the tape, but what a way to go and think of David Coleman's commentary.

A Drugs Olympics would represent real, clean competition, free of all trace of cheating or scandal, with athletes and pharmacologists refining their skills in true partnership.

Yours sincerely,

AUBREY MANNING

Ormiston,

East Lothian

31 August