ITALY: Anti-doping chief Dick Pound says doping row between Italian authorities and IOC should have been settled
Record ID:
331985
ITALY: Anti-doping chief Dick Pound says doping row between Italian authorities and IOC should have been settled
- Title: ITALY: Anti-doping chief Dick Pound says doping row between Italian authorities and IOC should have been settled
- Date: 10th February 2006
- Summary: LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND(JANUARY 2006)(REUTERS MV/SCU/MV INTERIOR OF WADA LABORATORY (5 SHOTS)
- Embargoed: 25th February 2006 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Italy
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA44AC2KJIAOC7AW534FYXBZG9A
- 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," - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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