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WADA supports IOC measures on nonpaying governments
Toronto, Dec 06: The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has welcomed steps by the International Olympic Committee to punish officials of countries which fail to pay their agency dues, even though the measures fell short of his demands.
Toronto, Dec 06: The head of the World Anti-Doping
Agency (WADA) has welcomed steps by the International Olympic
Committee to punish officials of countries which fail to pay
their agency dues, even though the measures fell short of his
demands.
The IOC announced on Thursday it will consider refusing
Olympic accreditation or withholding invitations to government
officials and VIPs from any delinquent countries.
The IOC also reiterated that countries could be barred from bidding for the Olympics if they don't pay.
WADA chairman Dick Pound had called for the IOC to ban flags and anthems from delinquent countries at the games. But he backed the IOC's announcement.
"These are two tremendous steps forward," Pound told.
"I think the IOC is right in one respect, it's up to US to collect our own money," Pound said.
The IOC decided banning flags and anthems would unfairly punish athletes, and sanctions against governments were inappropriate. But barring delinquent countries from bidding for the games could affect New York's candidacy for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The United States is among the countries yet to pay their 2003 dues to the agency, which was set up in 1999 to oversee global drug testing.
Pound has criticised the Bush administration for not paying its share, which was due at the beginning of the year. He also said the government slashed its promised share by 20 per cent from USD 1 million to USD 800,000; US officials said the figure was always USD 800,000.
US Olympic committee president Bill Martin sent a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge last week assuring him the government would pay in the next 60 to 90 days following passage of a bill in Congress. Pound also supported the IOC's decision to retest samples from the Salt Lake City Olympics for the steroid Thg, and expand its drug-testing programme for Athens.
Thg, or Tetrahydrogestrinone, was unmasked this summer as a steroid chemically modified to avoid detection in standard tests.
"As a drug of choice, it's now a dinosaur," Pound said. "The real question is whether it (Thg) has spread beyond people training in the United States." Bureau Report
The IOC also reiterated that countries could be barred from bidding for the Olympics if they don't pay.
WADA chairman Dick Pound had called for the IOC to ban flags and anthems from delinquent countries at the games. But he backed the IOC's announcement.
"These are two tremendous steps forward," Pound told.
"I think the IOC is right in one respect, it's up to US to collect our own money," Pound said.
The IOC decided banning flags and anthems would unfairly punish athletes, and sanctions against governments were inappropriate. But barring delinquent countries from bidding for the games could affect New York's candidacy for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The United States is among the countries yet to pay their 2003 dues to the agency, which was set up in 1999 to oversee global drug testing.
Pound has criticised the Bush administration for not paying its share, which was due at the beginning of the year. He also said the government slashed its promised share by 20 per cent from USD 1 million to USD 800,000; US officials said the figure was always USD 800,000.
US Olympic committee president Bill Martin sent a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge last week assuring him the government would pay in the next 60 to 90 days following passage of a bill in Congress. Pound also supported the IOC's decision to retest samples from the Salt Lake City Olympics for the steroid Thg, and expand its drug-testing programme for Athens.
Thg, or Tetrahydrogestrinone, was unmasked this summer as a steroid chemically modified to avoid detection in standard tests.
"As a drug of choice, it's now a dinosaur," Pound said. "The real question is whether it (Thg) has spread beyond people training in the United States." Bureau Report