http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100209/wl_canada_afp/oly2010schwarzeneggerdoping_20100209192401VANCOUVER (AFP) – Winter Olympics organisers on Tuesday defended their decision to invite Arnold Schwarzenegger to run in the torch relay despite the former movie star's admission that he used drugs in his bodybuilding career.
California governor Schwarzenegger, who will be a torch bearer on Friday in the run-up to the 2010 Games' opening ceremony, confessed in 2005 that he had used steroids on his way to becoming a seven-time Mr Olympia.
But John Furlong, the chief executive of Olympics organising committee VANOC, said that the former Hollywood star will play a crucial role on Friday.
"He has taken an extraordinary position on the environment and has developed a great relationship with the province of British Columbia," said Furlong.
"He is a powerful spokesman and is very popular here. He has been here many times and he helps focus attention on what we are doing."
Schwarzenegger said in 2005 that he opposes steroids, but did not regret using the bodybuilding substances when they were still legal.
"It was a new thing," he said. "So you can't roll the clock back and say: 'No, I would change my mind,' or anything, because for those days that's what we did."
