Dai Greene is an exasperated man.
Hampered by the injury which has curtailed the preparations for the defence of his world 400 metres hurdles title. Irked that he will travel to Moscow with no real concept of his capabilities. Dispirited at the drug scandals which threaten to envelope the sport which the Welshman has embraced.
The last has left Greene with the greatest deflation. One ban has seemingly followed another in recent weeks, the 31 suspensions handed out on Monday to Turkish athletes just the latest tale of cheats uncovered. "I wouldn't be surprised, given what's happened over the last few months, if there were more chapters to this story," he sighs.
With the IAAF upscaling its blood testing procedures at the championships, it seems inevitable that others will emerge tarnished from Russia. With last month's coincidental revelation that sprinters Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell had been caught out, it appears that track and field is being hurled towards its own Lance Armstrong moment.
Cycling is booming now, Greene notes. Firstly, it had to clean house. "It's strange because I got into athletics because I enjoyed it," he declares. "I enjoyed the training. I enjoyed competing. It's man versus man. I can't rely on team-mates. It's very individual. I don't know why people would get involved in the sport if they didn't love that aspect. Using drugs doesn't really abide by the same rules. They're obviously doing it for different reasons which are beyond me. I can't understand that."
Scotland's Eilidh Child is part of his Bath-based training team, and he has observed the strides forward taken by the European Indoor silver medallist in 2013. He senses Moscow could see further progress made.
"I still think she's got one or two big technical issues that she can sort out," he claims. "And really drop quite a bit of time if she gets it right on the day. I've seen her in training and I know she can produce good times."
Whether Greene can do likewise when he lines up in Monday's heats is unknown, even to him. At the training camp in Barcelona, he has been limited by the after-effects of a small tear in his calf. "We'll see how it reacts to a full race," he says. "I want to give it the best shot I can. It's not ideal preparation. I'll give it 100% but it's frustrating."
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