• London Olympics 2012

Ban drug users from Olympics - Halsall

Fran Halsall wants to see drug cheats banned from the Olympics © Getty Images

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• Profile: Fran Halsall

Fran Halsall is hopeful the British Olympic Association's policy of handing lifetime bans to drug cheats is upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, declaring the Games will lose its "specialness" if strict deterrents are not in place.

The BOA's lifetime exclusion for those found guilty of taking banned substances is opposed by World Anti-Doping Agency, which says the ruling breaches its code, and the on-going dispute was heard at a hearing in London on Monday.

And, with the decision due within the next month, Halsall has thrown her support behind the BOA. She told Sky Sports News: "I think it's a difficult one. People do it [drug cheat] and then they're sorry for what they've done. But there's got to be an incentive not to cheat. The Olympic Games is the epitome for all athletes, it's what every athlete works towards.

"If you let people who are cheating in it takes away the specialness and it says anyone can cheat. There's got to be strict standards on things. The Olympic Games is the one thing which would deter them from doing it. If you let them in it's not great."

Halsall, who sealed her place at London 2012 at the recent British Swimming Championships, admitted qualifying for the Games was nerve-wracking.

"If you don't qualify it's your dreams gone," she said. "It's every athlete's dream to qualify for the Olympic Games and to swim in a home Olympics is incredible. It was make or break time and you had to step up, and you had to win your races to be selected and that's harder than going to the Olympics with nothing to lose."

When asked if anything less than a medal would be unacceptable, she said: "I think so. Every time I get in I want to win, so my aim is to win all the races I swim in."

Halsall may have just swam the fastest 50m freestyle in the world this year, but there is little time for rest in the lead up to the Olympics.

"When you come into a meet you do a lot less metres than you usually do during a hard training block so you lose a bit of fitness and, with a week of just racing, we like to get straight back into it so we can get the fitness going early doors so we're ready to race fast [at London 2012].

"I've got a little bit of a holiday to Dublin next weekend; we're going for a four-day break. After that we've got camps here there and everywhere - we've got a national camp for the whole Olympic squad and we're going to Florida for intensive training there so it's going to a busy next few months and a lot of hard work."

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