"FOOLS to themselves and a disgrace to the sport" is the damning verdict from Jamie Baulch of those proved to have taken performance-enhancing drugs after hearing two athletes have tested positive for anabolic steroids.

Baulch, pictured, was running at the AAA Championships in Birmingham at the weekend which was overshadowed yesterday by the news that British record-holders pole vaulter Janine Whitlock and discus-thrower Perriss Watkins have both tested positive.

Wilkins has been suspended after a second sample confirmed the initial test taken out of competition on May 21 and a disciplinary committee will meet shortly.

But the news that Whitlock, Britain's top female pole vaulter, tested positive for methandienone at the Commonwealth Games trials on June 16 has rocked the athletics world.

A second sample can now be tested if Whitlock's legal team choose to do so and she has until Friday to decide, but UK Athletics has set a deadline of July 23, just two days before the Commonwealth Games, for Whitlock to explain fully herself.

It looks almost certain she will miss the Commonwealth Games and next month's European Championships and Baulch said he was disappointed to hear the news.

He said: "I was really shocked, I know Janine and I wouldn't have thought she would get involved with stuff like that."

Baulch added that while he would dearly love to see every athlete tested in every competition to ensure nobody is using performance- enhancing drugs, the cost and time involved would make it practically impossible.

He said: "It would be great if everyone was tested and you knew that everyone was clean, but it would just cost too much."

But he added: "Personally I couldn't do it, I want to be around to see my son grow up and there are serious dangers with using steroids.

"People who get involved in it, they are fools to themselves and a disgrace to the sport.

"Of course, if they have been wrongly accused then that's different and we'll have to wait and see what happens over the next few days."