King says Halkia drug link is wrong

Fani Halkia's victory in the Olympics women's 400 metres hurdles was extraordinary but drug-related questions about the Greek's performance are unfair, Australian coach Phil King said yesterday.

"I think it's bad, because it's unfair," said King, who coached world champion Jana Pittman to fifth place in yesterday's race.

Asked if he thought Halkia's gold medal winning run was extraordinary for an athlete who was virtually unknown a year ago, King said: "Yes, it is. I'm not saying extraordinary to interpret that as an accusation. I'm saying it's an extraordinary improvement and good luck to them in terms of improving to that degree. It's got nothing to do with where they come from."

Halkia, 25, won last night's final in 52.82 seconds to win the title by more than half a second, the largest margin of victory in the last five Olympics.

She has lowered her personal best by around 3.5 seconds, a massive improvement, in the past 12 months. Halkia ran the sixth-fastest time in history on her way to the title and said hard work had brought the drop.

Filed by Mark O'Neill-Cummins