Drugs and the Olympic movement

Last year, after two decades of open drug abuse had made the world cynical about the Olympics, the IOC finally addressed the problem. It acted in full observance of the Samaranch philosophy of secrecy, non-accountability and bad governance. It resisted all reasonable calls for an anti-drug, anti-doping agency for international sports. Instead, Mr. Samaranch and his complementary committee formed their own, in-house agency.

The IOC has failed the legal sides of the drugs-in-sports problem. It was not at all embarrassed to give a gold medal to a snow-boarding champion at the last Winter Games who openly admitted using marijuana. It will celebrate the competition in Sydney of serial drug abuser Javier Sotomayor of Cuba -- a champion high jumper. Linford Christie, another champion who has failed multiple doping tests, was welcomed to Sydney as a coach. Champions claim they had a cold, or a special diet, and accidentally tested positive. The IOC has been silent on these and, literally, hundreds of other cases.

Perhaps more importantly, the IOC of Mr. Samaranch has failed the moral test of this problem completely. The message is that if you reach the top without getting caught, drugs and doping are acceptable. Once the paragon of amateur athletics, the watchword of the Olympic Games was always fairness.

The motto that it is important how the game is played used to mean something. Now, the message to the children of the world is that if you can cheat your way to the top in the Olympics, fame and glory are yours. The IOC has not spent a satang to educate Thai children in either the legal or moral questions of drugs in sports.

Some nations have resisted this. China -- for whatever reason -- is keeping dozens of its best athletes at home because they are drug abusers. The international bicycle authorities have cooperated in exposing the scandal of drugs in their sport. It is time for international experts to take this important issue away from the IOC. There is no public confidence that the Samaranch clique will act.

-- The Bangkok Post