ITALY: Anti-doping chief Dick Pound says doping row between Italian authorities and IOC should have been settled

Record ID: 331984

  • Title: ITALY: Anti-doping chief Dick Pound says doping row between Italian authorities and IOC should have been settled
  • Date: 10th February 2006
  • Summary: TURIN, ITALY (FEBRUARY 9, 2006)(REUTERS) WIDE OF WADA PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE)(English) RICHARD POUND, CHAIRMAN OF WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY, SAYING, "It is really hard to answer the question of what I would do if I were the president but I would certainly have tried to settle this sooner than two days before the start of the Games. I would have sought some administrative solution on a practical basis which is what I think has been achieved here, I don't think that this overrun stage should be required a change at its legislation because it is hosting an international event but it should make some arrangements to ensure that the international standards and norms are applied during the competition being held on its territory." WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE)(English) POUND SAYING, "The (Turin) Games are not an Italian event here in Torino, this is the world event that happens to be taking place in Italy and it is governed by the rules of the international event- that is all it is." WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE)(English) POUND SAYING, " We have a deal among ourselves as athletes and one of the deals is that we don't use drugs, if you do use drugs we don't want to play with you, get out, you can make one mistake and you pay a little price for it and if you do it again , I am sorry, your ... of it beaded, we don't play with you. We don't think for that alone you should go to jail." WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE)(English) POUND SAIYNG, "The experts we have tell us that they don't think it has been applied here and even if the information is coming out from the trial in Germany since it needs to be more inquiry as boat in particular genetic doping agent not that it has been applied some body may have tried I don't know. I future games I think we have to operate on the assumption that there will be people out there willing to do it the bio-chemistry by itself is not that complicated apparently." WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE)(English) POUND SAYING, "We will use any means that we have to this is all clandestine its very, very seldom accidental, it is almost always planned and deliberate, ti's sophisticated involves use of scientists, medical doctors, coaches, athletes sometimes even parents, so you use whatever mean as you canto get out of it, and all you need is ...if we get some indication where to look and what to look for it might save us hundreds of thousands of dollars of resurch."
  • Embargoed: 25th February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA55IBCM2NEMMRVBHY66I6CCP8R
  • Story Text: A doping row between the Italian authorities and
    the International Olympic Committee should have been
    settled much earlier, the head of the World Anti-doping Agency said on Thursday.
    "I would certainly have tried to settle this sooner
    than two days before the start of the Games," WADA chief
    and IOC member Dick Pound told reporters.
    "I would have sought some administrative solution on a
    practical basis which has been achieved here."
    Italy and the IOC locked horns over doping for months
    until reaching a compromise in the week before the start of
    the Turin Winter Olympics on Friday.
    Italy refused to bring its strict doping laws in line
    with Olympic rules and respect a commitment made by
    organisers when the country was awarded the Winter Games.
    Doping is a criminal offence in Italy while the
    International Olympic Committee foresees only non-penal sanctions.
    "My feeling is that Italian authorities have
    acknowledged that testing will be conducted by and on
    behalf of the IOC according to their rules," he said.
    Pound said the IOC could not wait for the courts to
    process a case, citing two Italian cases that spend four years in the courts.
    "We need to have it decided between the heat and the semi-final (of a race)," he said.
    "The (Turin) Games are not an Italian event. They are
    an international one. But I think it will work out."
    Pound said Olympic officials would also use undercover
    drugs informants to unearth possible cheats during and after the Games.
    "We will use every means that we have to. If we get
    some indication of where to look it will save us hundreds
    of thousands of dollars," he said.
    With genetic doping quickly becoming the next major
    drugs threat, Pound said that while it was not clear when
    it could start being used to enhance performances, the
    Turin Olympics would be treated as if genetic doping was already there.
    "We will operate under the basis that it could be done
    now. Colour me hopeful but we will be there when it comes,"
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