Arron says she was beaten by drug cheats

Frenchwoman Christine Arron, one of the favourites to win 100 metres gold at the world athletics championships starting on Saturday, feels she would have won more medals had she not competed against drugs cheats.

"I think it happened often, very often even," Arron said when asked whether she thought she had sometimes been beaten by athletes using banned performance-enhancing substances.

Arron has not won a major individual title since clinching gold at the 1998 European championships in 10.73 seconds, a European record that still stands.

"I think doping (by other athletes) deprived me of a medal at world championships," said the 31-year-old, whose best individual result at world championships was fourth place over 100 metres in 1997.

Arron, who has a reputation for collapsing at major events, is enjoying one of her best seasons in a career spanning over a decade and hopes to break the jinx at last in Finland.

"I'm not going to Helsinki just to participate but to win a medal," she told Reuters.

"In order to do that, I have to run under 11 seconds and I feel I can do it."

The elegant sprinter from Guadeloupe, who has persistently been marred by injury worries, dismissed a suggestion she might be mentally fragile.

"If I were fragile, I wouldn't be here today," said Arron, who needed nearly three years to recapture her best form after giving birth in 2002 to a son, Ethan.

"If I were mentally fragile, do you think I would have come back after every single injury, every failure, every setback and after having a baby?" she asked.

Arron, a gold medallist in the 4x100 relay at the previous world championships in 2003 in Paris, emerged as a favourite for Helsinki by winning all three Golden League rounds so far to remain in contention for the jackpot to be shared by those who win all their events in the series.

The Frenchwoman, who will turn 32 in September, said she had no intention to retire.

"I don't feel I'm 32," she said.

"I feel I'm 26 or 27. As long as I keep improving, like I am at the moment, I'll keep going.

"I'll continue as long as I can run faster than my son.

"The day I can't catch him, it will be time to stop. He says he wants to run fast like mummy, so I have to be careful."