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Coates criticizes IOC drug code

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Posted: Wednesday September 08, 1999 11:04 AM

John Coates believes the drug code contains too many loopholes. Allsport UK/Allsport

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- The IOC's new anti-doping code is defective and does not go far enough to prevent the use of drugs in sport, Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said Wednesday.

In a letter to International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, Coates said he saw numerous flaws and inadequacies to the code which was agreed to by the IOC at its session in June.

Coates also said that the fight against doping at the Sydney Games next year would be compromised if the proposed International Anti-Doping Agency (IADA) was not set up immediately.

"I have told president Samaranch that the drafting of the code fails to properly address critical terms and elements such as a proper definition of 'doping' and 'trafficking'," Coates said in a statement.

"Further, the code does not adequately address out-of-competition testing and does not contain any provision permitting therapeutic use by athletes of otherwise prohibited substances.

"Importantly, the sampling and testing procedures described in the code do not accord with world's best practice. Sampling and testing procedures currently used by the Australian Sports Drug Agency would not be permitted under the IOC's new code, which refers to procedures which have been superseded in recent years."

Coates also said he was concerned by recent statements from IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch that the International Anti-Doping Agency would not be in place in time for the Sydney Games, contrary to a commitment at the IOC world doping conference in Lausanne in February.

"It is imperative that IADA commence operations immediately if it is to fulfill its role as the principal anti-doping authority within the Olympic movement and if we are to have an effective anti-doping regime in place," Coates said.

He said that in the absence of IADA, the anti-doping code was unworkable.

The AOC president also argued that if, and when, IADA was set up, it needed to be able to review the current list of banned substances and methods independently of the IOC.

Coates claimed in the letter to Samaranch that the code failed to properly address the crucial issue of out-of-competition testing and did not require all national Olympic committees and international federations to conduct such tests.

The Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games wants to test in the athletes village next year prior to the opening ceremony and at other pre-Games training venues around Australia.

Coates, who is a lawyer, said that the code was additionally flawed because it did not take into account various legal defenses by athletes found guilty of doping where they could argue they had no intent to commit an offense.

 

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