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McColgan tells Mo Farah to 'wise up' over Gatlin link

Mo Farah has been pictured with convicted dopers Justin Gatlin and Hamza Driouch in recent months © Getty Images

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Former 10,000m world champion Liz McColgan-Nuttall has urged Mo Farah to 'wise up' and distance himself from the likes of two-time convicted doper and fellow Nike athlete Justin Gatlin.

McColgan-Nuttall, mother of British steeplechase runner Eilish McColgan, tweeted that two-time Olympic champion Farah should "think about who he hangs out with" after posting a picture of the Briton and the disgraced sprinter posing together.

U.S. sprinter Gatlin, who served a second, four-year suspension between 2006 and 2010, was re-signed by sponsor Nike in March after running four of the five fastest times for the 100m during the 2014 season.

Gatlin is tipped as the man to deny Usain Bolt a golden sprint double at August's athletics world championships in Beijing, but news that his former sponsor had made him one of their marquee athletes in the wake of his doping history raised questions about the brand's motives and ethics.

Paula Radcliffe, a Nike ambassador, said the decision did not reflect "the integrity and ideals of the people there that I work with on a daily basis", while fellow British Olympians Steve Backley, Kelly Sotherton and Jenny Meadows were among those to express their disappointment.

But it took a picture of Gatlin posing with Farah, the reigning world and Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion, for McColgan-Nuttall to make her feelings clear on the issue - including the claim that Nike dropped her when she was pregnant.

Not so nice to see Mo hanging out with new Nike teammate drug filled Gatlin good one Nike.....ban for life pic.twitter.com/tlb99iXTk1

— liz mccolgan-nuttall (@distking) March 27, 2015

McColgan, who won Olympic 10,000m silver in 1988 and gold at the world championships in 1991, urged the sportswear brand to focus its funding on emerging talent instead.

As a previous world champion who got dropped from Nike for being pregnant !Nike sponsor lots of up coming juniors with your cash not drugs

— liz mccolgan-nuttall (@distking) March 28, 2015

The picture, believed to have been taken in July 2014, is the second image of Farah in the company of convicted dopers in recent times. In March, banned 1500m runner Hamza Driouch of Qatar posted a pic to Facebook of himself and Farah during a training session in Ethiopia, when the 20-year-old Moroccan was barred from attending under the terms of his ban.

@Ironholgs @CJMcFadden needs to wise up get some PR advice

— liz mccolgan-nuttall (@distking) March 30, 2015

Fellow U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay, who was dropped by sponsor Adidas after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid, will also be wearing Nike gear during the 2015 season, though the relationship with the brand is not formal.

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