For a change, most of the talk among athletes trying out the new Sydney Olympic stadium this week was not about their drug problem but their wind problem.

Competitors at the Australian championships this weekend were unified in their complaints that an unpredictable wind inside the 110,000-seat venue was causing some major headaches, especially for the sprinters.

It was tails one minute and headwinds the next, as the wind seemed to swirl in all directions. Local sprinter Dean Capobianco summed it up when he said: "You just don't know, one minute it is blowing in your face and the next it is blowing in your backside."

The problem seems to be caused by the bowl design of the stadium, where the track is lower than the ground. Once the wind gets in, with no simple exit, it swirls unpredictably. For sprinting, tailwinds over two metres per second down the 100-metre straight are illegal and render a record void. Strong headwinds, obviously, are bad too because they slow sprinters down.

Still, ask anyone who is seeking the ultimate Olympic prize and they'll tell you that it's gold that matters, not the time.