However, in April 2006 it was announced that Christie would be a senior mentor for athletes on the national team, along with former athletes Steve Backley, Daley Thompson and Katharine Merry. This proved controversial however, due to Christie's drugs ban. "I don't think he should be in that mentor role," said Paula Radcliffe, the former women's marathon world record-holder, herself a highly suspicious figure in terms of likely drug use. "We have to make sure that the people in that mentor role have an integrity and strong sense of ethics and morals."