OLYMPICS / Barcelona 1992: British sport handed a too familiar lesson: Ken Jones in Barcelona on the latest drug abuse scandal

THIS IS the worst of times for Wally Holland, a 74-year- old Londoner who lived in hope that weightlifting, the sporting love of his life, was at last coming clean.

Earlier this week, Holland, the national team manager, a veteran of nine Olympics, felt that random drug-testing procedures introduced to the sport in Great Britain after the expulsion and life suspension of two Welsh lifters from the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland were proving successful. 'Of course, nobody can be sure,' he said, 'but I like to think that out-of-competition testing has discouraged our people from breaking the rules.'

Holland's optimism proved to be horribly misplaced. In a letter handed over by a representative of the Sports Council, who arrived in Barcelona late on Tuesday, he learned that samples taken from Andrew Saxton and Andrew Davies contained the drug clenbuterol - a stimulant and anabolic agent.

It remains to be seen whether Holland, an enthusiast of long and honourable standing, carries out a threat to resign if British lifters brought scandal to their sport in Barcelona, but his fears have been realised.

Standing on a terrace outside the British quarters, he had spoken of the shame that accompanies exposure and the effect it can have on the rest of an athlete's life. 'I know of one lad who lost practically everything, his wife, his home. I wish every lifter, every athlete in every field could be shown a film of what he went through because it might be the most effective deterrent, proving to them that nothing can ever be the same if they are caught.'

That some should continue to run the risk says something about human nature, but the surprise is that anybody should be astonished by further scandalous revelations.

Sebastian Coe, the gold medallist at 1500m in 1980 and 1984 and perhaps the most illustrious of British Olympians, is among those who believe that drug abuse remains sport's most serious and sinister problem, far greater than the corrupting effect of rampant commercialism.

People speak of masking agents that defeat the most stringent testing techniques. It is said that a subversive document on drugs, explaining how even the most effective substances can be manufactured without pharmaceutical assistance, has become, at pounds 20, a best-seller in the athletes' village.

Therefore it is nonsense to assume that the International Olympic Committee is on top of the problem even if, as Alexandre de Merode, head of the medical commission, states, none of the tests taken since the Games began last weekend have proved positive.

Most disturbing is the stance adopted by Primo Nebiolo, president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, when pleading a case for his sport. What Nebiolo could be heard saying at a poorly attended press conference conveniently following the announcement of a British scandal, is that athletics bears too much responsibility for a dilemma that ranges across the whole spectrum of sport. 'We cannot be on our own in this,' he said, a godfatherly presence at the centre of a long table, speaking precisely in English.

Unquestionably there would be an advantage in specific reference, in identifying other areas where the use of performance-enhancing substances are thought to be widespread, but as the most visible of Olympic sports, track and field cannot afford to relax, and indeed must step up its vigilance.

In Seoul four years ago, the scandal of Ben Johnson, and suspicions surrounding the performances of other notable competitors who achieved spectacular feats, further disgraced the de Coubertin ideal, as though any risk had become worth taking in the pursuit of fame and its attendant rewards.

If serious legal implications (the right to pursue a career, and a limit to the extent of sport's authority) had to be taken into account when Johnson was permitted to resume competition after completing a two-year suspension, a moral issue was raised by his selection for Barcelona.

During the World Championships in Tokyo last year, Johnson, slighter and considerably less powerful, stood out only as a forlorn symbol of disgrace while Carl Lewis restored honour to the 100 metres, legitimately setting a world record. A full moon that night emphasised the sense of cleansing endeavour.

Unfortunately, there is a point of view, essentially libertarian, that would have allowed Johnson to remain on the Olympic roll of honour. But to suppose that narcotic assistance is acceptable in the pursuit of excellence is to take sport out of the arena and into the laboratory; eventually, from there to oblivion.

It is no coincidence that athletes who previously represented East Germany have been unable to maintain remarkable standards in field events and swimming since the break-up of the Communist bloc. It is simply that they have come under closer scrutiny.

Worryingly, the opprobrium that arose around the British team, immediately occupying a legion of print and television journalists, barely registered elsewhere in the press centre. 'Congratulations, I see you Brits have got the first drug scandal of the Games,' an American chuckled, before concentrating his thoughts on US prospects in the swimming pool.

So far, nine competitors, including five Nigerians who did not travel to Barcelona after testing positive, have forfeited a place in the Games.

Rumours suggest more will follow once the track and field events begin, and there has to be sympathy for the view that major sports not represented here remain deliberately blind to the issue.

When coming to present details of the British findings, Dick Palmer said: 'Being the team's chef de mission is a great honour. Unfortunately it also carries a sad responsibility.' Palmer declared that he didn't think it to be the tip of an iceberg. He also said that those could be famous last words.