London - Athletes taking banned drugs at London 2012 are more likely to be detected than at any previous Olympic Games, the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said Tuesday.
And John Fahey added he was already taking comfort from the fact that more than 100 athletes who could have competed at London had been caught taking drugs in the six months leading up to June.
“There has been a coherent effort to make London as clean as possible and doping athletes must be aware their chances of getting away with it are the smallest ever,” said Fahey, a former Australian finance minister.
“We got as many athletes tested before they left for the training camps,” the 67-year-old added.
“These are bearing fruit. At least 107 athletes involved in sports that are part of the Summer Games have been sanctioned in the six months prior to June which means they will miss the Games.
“I don't know how many of them would have qualified for the Games but I am happy to say that if they had done they would not have succeeded in getting to the Games because they have been sanctioned.”
Fahey said those involved in battling the dopers faced several challenges.
“The availability of substances, the costs of anti-doping activities are just two of them,” he explained.
“Then there is the re-analysis of the samples i and also too often we catch the dopey (stupid) doper while the sophisticated one gets away.”
Fahey said that he was keen for sanctions such as bans to apply to all those who'd helped athletes dope, rather than just the competitors themselves.
“One of the increasing dangers round the athletes is the sophistication of their entourage,” he said.
“We must see if we can punish them as they are seeking to profit from the athlete doping.”
Fahey admitted there was a certain fatigue surrounding the question of the anti-doping battle but added: “Sport is a mirror image of society.”
He also suggested new disciplinary measures could be put in place to punish the most severe dope cheats.
“For the most serious form of doping then the punishment could be increased from eight to 14 years,” he said.
WADA are also contemplating a new clause in their revised code, due to be published in 2013, which would limit dope cheats' participation in future Olympic Games.
Such a clause could also prevent a repeat of the legal wrangle that ended with the Court of Arbritration for Sport ruling in April the British Olympic Association's lifetime Games ban for dope cheats was non-compliant with the WADA code.
That ruling paved the way for the British duo of sprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclist David Millar, both guilty of doping offences earlier in their respective careers, to compete at the London Olympics. - Sapa-AFP