SA denies drug seizure report

South Africa's National Olympic Committee (NOCSA) said on Friday said there had been "a gross distortion" in a report that one of their swimming coaches had been caught entering Australia with a banned drug.

NOCSA were reacting after 14 tablets of MaHuang, a Chinese herb used as a stimulant or energy-booster, were seized by Perth airport customs on Wednesday after a passenger declared the tablets but without a prescription for them.

An Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio report said the passenger was a South African Olympic swimming coach.

NOCSA spokesman Chris Day said the report was "absolutely wrong". He said Graham Hill, coach of highly-rated deaf breaststroker Terence Parkin, had been carrying a bottle containing 16 Hydroxica tablets.

"Hydroxica are over-the-counter, non-prescription, weight-reducing tablets, which he uses for weight-reducing purposes," said Day.

He added that Hill had personally declared the tablets to customs officials in Perth, where a party of South African swimmers and coaches, travelling to Melbourne to compete in a Grand Prix meeting as part of their Olympic build-up, had first entered Australia on Wednesday.

"They told him that the pills contained (the banned stimulant) ephedrine and said they would have to confiscate them. They gave him a notice of seizure and sent him on his way," said Day.

Day said there appeared to have been a "gross distortion" in reports of the incident.

"NOCSA is completely satisfied with his explanation," he said.

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