The dope show

A slew of scandals has organizers fighting for the Olympics' integrity with sweeping changes in drug testing.

By JOHN ROMANO

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 14, 2000

SYDNEY, Australia -- The cheaters are everywhere. The trick for the International Olympic Committee is limiting their numbers here.

Already, nearly three dozen athletes from various nations either have failed drug tests or pulled out of the Olympics, reportedly with concerns about future drug tests.

It is an exercise in both joy and despair. If cheaters are being caught, the system is working. But the overall impression is that the Olympics are being tainted by athletes using performance-enhancing drugs. And officials from the United States insist only a small fraction of the cheaters are being caught.

A recent study financed by the White House suggests as many as 90 percent of the athletes in some unidentified sports are using drugs.

The IOC has implemented its most comprehensive drug testing system ever for the Sydney Games, and, although few believe the problem will be eradicated, officials say a more aggressive policy is long overdue.

"It's a start. It's the first time the IOC has initiated a program that's proactive in the drug area instead of reactive," said Frank Shorter, the 1972 Olympic marathon champion and the chairman of the newly formed U.S. Anti-Doping agency that will take over enforcement for the United States after the Games. "From the athletes' perspective, not only do you have to catch people in the act of cheating ... but you have to create deterrents. The next step is to keep the momentum going."

Drug accusations have been a part of the Olympics for decades, but the heat has been turned up in recent years after a number of high-profile incidents.

A top athletic official in Germany recently was convicted on criminal charges of providing steroids for East German swimmers in the 1970s. Several teams protested at the Tour de France in 1998 because of suspected drug use by others. Irish swimmer Michelle Smith, a triple gold-medal winner in Atlanta in 1996, was suspended after being accused of manipulating a drug test. Randy Barnes, the 1996 Olympic shot put champion, was banned for life in 1998 after testing positive for a steroid.

China created the greatest stir by pulling 27 athletes from the Olympic team, and it later admitted it was done mostly because of drug tests. With Beijing lobbying for the 2008 Olympics, China apparently feared the political backlash of having a large number of athletes test positive in Sydney.

"There have been some athletes drop out and I'm not saying drug tests are the reason," U.S. assistant track coach Bubba Thornton said. "But I will say everything is much improved. We're doing things to help our sport and make sure everyone is on an even playing field."

Faced with the growing number of positive results and the accusations of widespread doping made by coaches from several nations, the IOC stepped up its anti-drug campaign in the past year.

The World Anti-Doping Agency was established last year with the IOC, various national Olympic committees and governing bodies of sports offering support to the campaign.

The agency has taken to showing up unannounced at the homes of Olympic athletes and taking urine samples. To avoid the tainting of tests or the use of hidden vials of urine, the athletes must undress from the waist down and urinate in the presence of an agency official.

"Think about if someone followed you into a bathroom and watched," swimmer Amy Van Dyken told the Los Angeles Times. "It's something you don't normally do in front of other people, especially a stranger."

EPO has followed steroids and human growth hormones as the drug du jour. EPO, or erythropoietin, boosts the production of oxygen-rich blood cells that can benefit an athlete's endurance.

The IOC, after much hand wringing, agreed to allow tests for EPO to be administered at the Sydney Olympics. The tests have come under fire because the IOC has disregarded a test that supposedly is able to find traces of EPO for up to 28 days. Instead, the IOC is using tests that would detect EPO only if it has been taken in the past three to five days. And an athlete would have to fail two tests before being suspended.

IOC officials acknowledge their intent with EPO was to frighten potential cheaters rather than catch them.

"They started testing for EPO and a lot of athletes dropped out. Is that a coincidence? I don't know," U.S. assistant track coach John Moon said. "Our philosophy is bring on the tests. We have nothing to hide."

U.S. swimming coach Richard Quick and Australian swimming coach Don Talbot have criticized the lack of a cohesive drug testing policy. Quick said a more aggressive program would not only identify the cheaters, it would remove the cloud of suspicion over swimmers such as Dara Torres or the Netherlands' Inge de Bruijn.

Torres, a former University of Florida star, is suddenly swimming the best times of her career after a seven-year layoff. De Bruijn set a handful of world records this year after a largely undistinguished career.

Torres was near tears when the subject of possible doping offenses was brought up during the swimming trials, and de Bruijn has had to defend herself against drug accusations for months.

The result is that the cheaters, no matter how few they might be, are creating an atmosphere where a spectacular performance is greeted more with skepticism than adulation.

"I don't know if there is a cloud over the Games, I haven't noticed that," Talbot said. "I don't know what they are doing to stop this, I'm not privy to those discussions. But I can only have a lot of hope that something serious is being done about this."

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