'Drugs in sport' documents are 'missing'

Documents allegedly containing "explosive" information about drug use in Australian
sport have disappeared before they could be used in an Olympian's defamation case.
The documents, used to clear cyclist Mark French when he was accused of being a drug
cheat in 2004, were stolen from a Melbourne office last week, according to a media
consultant working for French.
The documents contained "explosive and torrid" allegations about drugs in Australian
sport and were made confidentially, said media consultant Tess Lawrence who worked
for French and his family during his 2004 drugs case.
Ms Lawrence said the matter had been reported to police and came during French's
ongoing Supreme Court defamation case against radio station Triple M.
Triple M's lawyers successfully obtained a subpoena for the material, which Ms
Lawrence was fighting.
"We painstakingly, forensically accumulated material from sources inside the police,
judiciary, Australian Institute of Sport, Cycling Australia and even bikies," she
said on Monday.
"The more we dug, the more torrid the situation was.
"We gave an undertaking we would not reveal people's identities.
"I don't want it to end up on a website because we have not tested every statement,
so some people implicated on there might not be guilty just because 'so-and-so said
so'. My only concern was Mark."
French, 24, is suing Triple M over comments made by presenters James Brayshaw and
Tim Smith on its program The Cage in 2004, which was broadcast in Melbourne, Sydney
and Adelaide.
During the program, French was called "the dirty, stinking cyclist who dobs in his
mates" and was described as a "drug cheat" who "squealed on his mates" which was
"un-Australian", the court was told last week.
French achieved notoriety in 2004 when he named four fellow cyclists and accused
them of injecting themselves with vitamins and supplements, and was himself banned
for using prohibited substances.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the decision on appeal 18 months
later. French made this year's Beijing Olympics team.
His lawyer, Michael Main, on Monday told AAP he did not know the documents had gone
missing.
He said he would not comment on the case until it finished later this week.
Triple M's lawyers, law firm Monahan and Rowell, could not be contacted for comment.