Drug cheats aren’t always the clear-cut villains of their story

you get asked to take a banned drug, you say no. But if it is your coach making these suggestions and that coach has almost complete control over your career, saying “no” may not always be as easy as it initially seems.

When it is a well-respected coach, the pressure to go along with what they want is even greater. That may be as innocent as doing a training session that you aren’t entirely convinced about. But the more sinister side is when that coach is hinting that taking a certain substance may move you to the next level.

It’s easy to say that every athlete should say no without thinking twice. But when your entire athletic future lies in the hands of this coach, it’s not always easy to throw that away, despite the fact that saying no is the right thing to do.

The pressure to go along with a coach’s nefarious suggestions are even more extreme if you suspect many of your peers are doping, too. That the Tour de France became riddled with dopers was, as much as anything, down to the pressure within teams to dope in order to keep up with the rest of the peloton.

Scotland’s hour-record holder, Graeme Obree, has talked about his experience of signing for a pro team in 1995 before having his contract terminated a mere 12 hours later for refusing to join the team’s “medical programme”. While it is an extreme example, the pressure to comply remains present to this day. Those in charge rarely take to athletes who have too much to say for themselves.

In the end, it is down to the athlete to make the right choice. If winning is dependent on doping, is it really worth it? But when an individual’s livelihood is on the line, it’s not hard to see why sometimes athletes fold and coaches get their own way.