GB athlete Bernice Wilson warns of dangerous relationships with coaches
By Richard Cooke
Last Updated: 09/01/18 1:31pm
British sprinter Bernice Wilson has warned athletes who may be in an unhealthy relationship with their coach to get help otherwise it could lead to doping.
Wilson was banned was four years in 2011 when she tested positive after her coach and partner George Skafidis gave her performance-enhancing drugs.
While still banned in February 2015, she failed an out-of-competition test for clomiphene, a fertility drug, but due to substantial assistance provided to UK Anti-Doping and a prompt admission of guilt, her second suspension was reduced from 40 months to 10 months.
He has admitted the offences and has been banned from all sport for life but Wilson does not want other athletes go through the same turmoil as herself.
Speaking on Sportswomen she said: "When we got into a relationship he said to me you need to take drugs and you won't make it if you don't take drugs and basically he said that all athletes are taking drugs.
"And so I listened to him and I started taking little pink circular tablets that were steroids.
"It felt like I had a lot of energy and that my training could just go on and on and on, so at times I was training for about four to five hours at a time. I was lifting heavy weights and they wouldn't seem that heavy.
"I did feel guilty but because George was saying everyone was doing it, I started to think well it's fine because everyone is doing it anyway.
"To the outside world I seemed happy and everything was fine, I was getting a lot of success, but inside me I was very hurt I was quite sad and when I was going home to George I felt I was in a very dark place.
"I remember receiving the first ban and I felt very sick. I felt very embarrassed, I felt very hurt and I felt very alone.
"I still kept training and also I was very adamant that I didn't want to be taking any drugs.
"Then in 2015 George and I were living together and he swapped my vitamin tablets for drugs again and I got banned for clomiphene. I was banned for 10 months but in this case I wasn't aware I was taking it, and it was very dangerous and everything he was giving me I was told could have killed me."
Wilson hopes to represent Great Britain again in the future and is trying to be upbeat.
The chief executive of UKAD Nicole Sapstead told Sportswomen: "Clearly when those people are assisting their athletes, supporting them, influencing their decisions, encouraging them, there becomes absolutely areas where that can go straight into becoming an inappropriate relationship.
"There is potential for that relationship to be abused."
