Oly cheats likely to be found

LAUSANNE – Olympic cheats are likely to be found and left at home, recently-elected World Anti-Doping Agency president John Fahey said on Wednesday.

WADA director general David Howman also said that leading athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics would be targeted for pre-Olympic, out-of-competition testing by an International Olympic Committee anti-doping task force. “We are working with the IOC to help them look for appropriate targets and we will give them advice on who to target,” Howman said.”We have to think like cheats to catch cheats.I won’t tell you how we do that.But I want athletes to be really worried that they’re going to get caught.”Fahey rejected the suggestion that the drug testers could be lagging behind the dope users at next August’s Olympic Games.”I don’t think that’s the perception,” he said.”With the out-of-competition tests prior to Beijing, there is a likelihood that the cheats will be found and left at home.WADA is confident that this will be the most effective anti-doping programme at any Olympic Games.”Fahey, said that out-of-competition testing is the “primary responsibility of each federation,” and added that the “tentacles of doping” had seeped “deep into society.”Citing the seven-year reign of the disgraced Olympic gold medallist Marion Jones, who never failed a drugs test, as evidence that out-of-competition testing was key to ensuring a clean Olympics, Howman also laid responsibility at the door of the national federations.”WADA is working with the national federations to ensure that those in their registered testing pool are tested before the games,” he said.”There are many people responsible for who goes to Beijing, not least the Olympic Committee that selects.Nampa-AFP”We are working with the IOC to help them look for appropriate targets and we will give them advice on who to target,” Howman said.”We have to think like cheats to catch cheats.I won’t tell you how we do that.But I want athletes to be really worried that they’re going to get caught.”Fahey rejected the suggestion that the drug testers could be lagging behind the dope users at next August’s Olympic Games.”I don’t think that’s the perception,” he said.”With the out-of-competition tests prior to Beijing, there is a likelihood that the cheats will be found and left at home.WADA is confident that this will be the most effective anti-doping programme at any Olympic Games.”Fahey, said that out-of-competition testing is the “primary responsibility of each federation,” and added that the “tentacles of doping” had seeped “deep into society.”Citing the seven-year reign of the disgraced Olympic gold medallist Marion Jones, who never failed a drugs test, as evidence that out-of-competition testing was key to ensuring a clean Olympics, Howman also laid responsibility at the door of the national federations.”WADA is working with the national federations to ensure that those in their registered testing pool are tested before the games,” he said.”There are many people responsible for who goes to Beijing, not least the Olympic Committee that selects.Nampa-AFP