|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Scientists short on funding
Posted: Friday May 12, 2000 10:12 AM
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- The International Olympic Committee would be to blame if blood testing was not implemented to catch drugs cheats before the Sept. 15-Oct. 1 Sydney 2000 Olympics, Swimming Australia president Terry Gathercole said Friday. Scientists at the Australian Institute of Sport were on the brink of producing a conclusive blood test for EPO, or erythropoietin, but were working under incredible deadline pressure because the IOC had been slow to allocate research funding, he said. EPO, which enhances endurance by boosting the production of oxygen-rich red blood cells in the body, is reportedly widely used in several sports because it cannot be detected by standard urine doping tests. Speaking on the eve of Australia's Olympic swimming trials in Sydney, Gathercole said the IOC should have taken a more proactive approach to catching athletes who use performance enhancing drugs. Instead of waiting until the Australian Government had committed funding earlier this year to the EPO project before contributing $1 million, the IOC should have taken the lead in research, he said. "My greatest fear is that if we do have a conclusive test there will be all sorts of dragging of feet, legal hassles and it will not be put in place to protect the people that are playing the game fairly at our Olympic Games," he said. "I'm confident that we'll have the test -- scientists at the AIS are saying the test will be even more effective than they'd anticipated -- what I want to be confident about is that it will be used." Gathercole said he had suggested to IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch that athletes be forced to submit to blood testing on condition of Olympic accreditation at Sydney but later admitted his scheme was "a bit harsh." The IOC should promote a self-regulation program for athletes involving the distinctive marking of the accreditation of athletes who volunteered to be subjected to blood testing, he said. "Those who don't [volunteer] ... the media, the public, so their fellow competitors could draw their own conclusions." Multiple world record holder Ian Thorpe said he and most other Australian swimmers would be prepared to have samples of their blood frozen and tested in the future to dispel any hint of drug suspicion. "I'm more than happy to do that and I think that's going to be the way it's going to have to go is for athletes to say: `I'm no cheater ... and here's my proof'," he said. "The more athletes that are able to do that, the more pressure that's going to be created ... if you're not prepared to do it, it puts a big question mark over your past performances and whatever performances come in the future." Australia's federal Sports Minister Jackie Kelly on Tuesday announced that the government would commit an extra $1 million Australian (U.S. $590,000) for blood testing at the Olympics. The money was allocated in the federal budget to the Australian Sports Drug Agency for the implementation of the testing program.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
