British Olympian Kelly Sotherton still feels cheated because of doping rivals
Tuesday 23 October 2018 15:10, UK
Kelly Sotherton feels she lost out on sponsorship due to the doping controversies that have dogged athletics in recent years.
Former heptathlete Sotherton has suffered more than most due to cheating in her sport. The 41-year-old was forced to wait for a decade to get her hands on a heptathlon bronze medal from the 2008 Beijing Games after two of her rivals subsequently failed doping tests.
Sotherton, who also won a medal at the 2004 Athens Games, picked up a 4x100m relay bronze last year, again due to a retrospective disqualification of a fellow competitor following a failed drugs test.
"Yeah, I did lose out [on potential sponsorship ahead of the 2012 London Games]," Sotherton told Sky Sports News.
"I've lost out going forward now, but it is also about ensuring that now going forward we do something about it.
"It's never going to be all clean," Sotherton added about sport in general.
"There is always going to be cheating. In football, there is [cheating] because someone will take a dive. That is cheating.
"But it is about what level that cheating is and what people perceive is clean."
