Olympic gold medallist Matthew Mitcham voices fears over doping youth

THE Australian Youth Olympic Festival will be staged in Sydney in January but there's a chance we won't see the best young talent.

THE Australian Youth Olympic Festival will be staged in Sydney in January but according to Beijing diving gold medallist Matthew Mitcham, there's a chance we won't get a first-hand look at the best young talent some nations have to offer.

Yesterday, Mitcham provided a disturbing insight into the lengths young athletes and countries will go to just to win.

Mitcham's "rumour" involves teenage athletes, not from Australia, but young boys and girls who, as he put it: "Are doped up on steroids and lifting 110 per cent of the world records over and over again."

Mitcham said the youngsters are locked away in a system where they avoid getting caught because they are kept out of competition.

"That is how they get the muscle size, the muscle bulk and the strength," Mitcham said. "And they just keep on lifting after they get clean to maintain their strength."

This is the battle the World Anti-Doping Agency is up against. No matter how tough they get, the cheats always find a way.

WADA wants to increase the penalty from two to four years for serious drug violations in the next version of the global anti-doping code.

The change will be in line with a previous failed attempt by the IOC to bar any athlete hit with a ban of more than six months from competing in the subsequent Olympics.

As Australian Olympic Committee boss John Coates explained yesterday: "It will now be in the World Anti-Doping Code to which we are a signatory.

"So if a code is changed to four years you will effectively miss your next Games, which is exactly what the IOC wants but it is going to be across the board for all sports."

Asked if it was possible to rid sport of cheats, Coates said: "No. But you've got to give it your best shot. If people lose their faith in the integrity of sport you may as well give up."

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MITCHAM has won Olympic gold for Australia - but the 24-year-old says beating the world's best is nothing compared to the battle of just being a teenager.

The Beijing gold medallist, who is openly gay, recently revealed that he battled a methamphetamine addiction in 2011, one that almost destroyed his career and his life as he struggled to overcome depression.

"Being a teenager is absolutely the hardest thing in the world," he said.

"But they should not feel ashamed to ask for help. That is what keeps kids from reaching out - that shame or feeling like they have no reason to feel depressed.

"What I am trying to do with the book is hopefully de-stigmatise depression.

"It seems like this really new phenomenon that all these athletes are coming out about their depression but it is not a new phenomenon."