Coe said spectators and fans deserved not to be deceived by drug cheats.

 

"The one thing that you have to cling very firmly to is that if audiences, crowds and spectators believe for one moment that what they're watching is illegitimate, we might as well all be watching WWF wrestling," he told a lunch in Melbourne two days ahead of the Melbourne Athletics Grand Prix.

 

Former Olympic and world champion Jones was sentenced to six months in prison for lying to investigators about doping and a cheque-fraud conspiracy.

 

After long denying she ever had used performance-enhancing drugs, Jones admitted last October she lied to federal investigators in November 2003, acknowledging she took anabolic steroids during the build-up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she won a record five medals, including three gold.

 

The Jones case "has put some systems in place and woken a few people up to the damage that one or two people in a concerted system of cheating can actually wreak on your sport," Coe said.

 

"We cannot have another five years like we've just been through because I'm not sure the sport would survive that."

 

Coe said London 2012 was taking a tough line on drug cheats.

 

He said: "In London we have a very clear template — we will be a zero tolerance Games.

 

"It is the big issue and we've got to make sure that we've got systems in place that detect and that have penalties that are proportionate to the damage that is being done to our sport."