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Final message Samaranch urges IOC to find solutions for drug conflicts
MOSCOW (AP) -- Juan Antonio Samaranch contends sports is threatened by conflicting drug laws and he urged that an international conference be held to resolve the dispute. Samaranch, in his last full day in office as IOC president, said Sunday that police raids during the Giro d'Italia this year and the Tour de France in 1998 showed the need to adopt common practices so athletes do not inadvertently violate a country's laws. "After these interventions, we have the feeling that sport is in danger," said Samaranch, whose successor will be chosen Monday. "Finally, governments are interested to fight against doping," Samaranch added. "But what we can ask these governments is a harmonization. It is impossible that ... all the rules regarding doping in these countries are different." Samaranch spoke at the end of a morning presentation that earlier heard from Dick Pound, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency. The agency was formed at a 1999 conference and he asked Pound to organize another conference. "That is urgent, urgent to have an agreement with the governments regarding harmonization ... because, if not, sport will suffer a lot," Samaranch said. Pound, one of five candidates to replace Samaranch, said he will act on the suggestion. "I perhaps may not have been clear," he added. "The primary objective we have in WADA is to develop a uniform and harmonized approach to thibody knows it's a mess right now." During a later news conference, he appeared to resist the idea, saying, "This sounded like an invitation from someone else to spend my money." Samaranch's suggestion came after Swiss IOC member Denis Oswald, head of the international rowing federation, said any country's drug regulations should be applied only to national competitions. And, he added, if an international competition is held in a country, that event should be subject to the regulations of the sport's governing body.
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