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All Olympic athletes face bedroom raids in anti-doping crackdown
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent16.10.09
Athletes competing at the London Olympics face regular bedroom raids by anti-doping officials, ministers said today.
Powers to raid athletes' accommodation would be handed to the new UK Anti-Doping body as part of a crackdown ahead of the 2012 Games.
There will also be an anonymous phone hotline to tip off the authorities on potential drugs cheats.
The Government will seek permission to introduce the raids from the International Olympic Committee and the London 2012 organisers. Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe said: "We don't want to criminalise athletes, but it would be fair if it was a condition of entry."
The IOC is likely to back the plan. It wrote to the British government in the wake of raids by Italian police on Austrian skiers at the Turin Winter Olympics to ask it to consider similar measures.
But a British Athletes Commission spokesman said: "We understand the rationale, which is to tackle blood doping, which is hard to prove unless you find evidence. But that only affects a minority of sports. Getting all athletes to sign up will be close to impossible."
Ukad, modelled on the Australian anti-doping body, will be chaired by the former chief constable of North Yorkshire David Kenworthy. The head of drug-free sport at UK Sport, Andy Parkinson, has been named as chief executive. Mr Kenworthy said the new agency, which will have a staff of 50 and cost £7million, would have a closer working relationship with the police and UK Border Agency than in the past.
"My overall aim is that the UK will be a world leader in anti-doping," he said.
Reader views (1)
'..the new agency, which will have a staff of 50 and cost £7million, would have a closer working relationship with the police and UK Border Agency than in the past.'
Yummee! Lots of lovely new salaries. Does nobody work in this country any more? Surely they only need to test the medalwinners, because everyone else will by definition have been wasting their time, whatever they were taking. If winners come up clean, it will be the best deterrent to doping there could be.
PS Is there an existing criminal offence of taking these substances: if not, why is the state getting involved?
- Mdj E10, london uk
