OLYMPIC athletes including Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis have been reprimanded for smoking near the main entrance to Olympic Park.
Cigarette smoking is strictly forbidden inside the complex, so a group of competitors had taken to gathering by the bins outside the main gate.
Multiple gold medallist Mo Farah said: “When you’ve got the hopes and dreams of a nation on your shoulders, that’s when you really need a fag.
“Personally it’s the only thing that sorts me out before a race.”
LOCOG staff confiscated cigarettes and smoking paraphenalia including Andy Murray’s briar pipe from competitors gathered in the area dubbed ‘faggers’ corner’.
Farah said: “Lord Coe reckons it gives the wrong impression if we’re smoking out the front because kids in the queue can see us, but so what? The fans like to see our human side.
“When I was twelve I saw Daley Thompson having a cig outside a stadium and because of how cool he looked I decided to take up athletics.”
Heptathlon winner Jessica Ennis, who has since quit the Olympics so she can smoke unmolested, said: “Last week I only had roll-ups and I really wanted a straight. This amazing hurdler from Finland offered me one and we got chatting, now we’re friends.
“Smoking brings people together, which should be what the Olympics is all about.”
Doctor Stephen Malley said: “There is some evidence that cigarettes are detrimental to the health but it has never been proved.
“They’re definitely nice though, once you get past the initial coughing stage, so smoking is probably a good thing to do.
