Top Ten Olympic drug scandals

By Gerard Meagher

AS 14-time Olympic champion Michael Phelps gets a three-month suspension and a tarnished reputation for puffing away on the magic dragon, we look at the top ten drug scandals in Olympic history......

10. Linford Christie

GOLDEN BOY: Linford Christie grabs 100m gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics (Getty Images)

By winning 100m gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Linford Christie forever wrote his name into British folklore.

At 32, Christie became the oldest 100m Olympic champion - a record that still stands today - and ended the USA's dominance over the event.

But in 1999, Christie was found guilty of using the performance-enhancing drug nandrolone, following a routine doping test.   

At that time he was in semi-retirement and Christie, who protested his innocence, claimed the substance would have entered his system through legal supplements.

But the 1993 world champion still received a two-year ban and the mandatory life-time Olympic ban from the BOA - which meant the 48-year-old was prohibited from coaching Christian Malcolm at the Beijing Olympics.

He was also prevented from carrying the Olympic torch through London as his positive test continues to leave a stain on his illustrious career.

That was not Christie's only brush with the law however.

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics - where he eventually won silver - Christie tested positive for the stimulant pseudoephedrine.

The IOC voted 11-10 that the substance could have come from ginseng tea.

It has been widely argued that the IOC would not have shown such leniency had they not just had to deal with the furore surrounding Ben Johnson's positive test.