Drug code may be delayed until 2006

DOPING: The introduction of a global doping code for professional athletes who participate in Olympic competition may be delayed two years until the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound said yesterday.

The code, which will be presented for adoption in March at a world conference on doping in Copenhagen, had been expected to be in force for the 2004 Games in Athens. Under the code, professional athletes would face the same suspensions as Olympic athletes.

"Some countries might ask for an 18-month delay to put legislation into place," Pound told a conference call from Montreal, the headquarters of the agency. "The idea is to have the code applied at the 2004 Games but if governments can't adopt the international convention before that, it can be delayed to 2006."

If the deadline were postponed, governments would have until Turin 2006 to adapt their laws to the code or face possible sanctions, including being barred from hosting the Games. Any international federation that refused to comply would not be accepted at the Games. In the case of professional sports, non-compliance could result in a blanket ban from future Olympic competition.

Meanwhile, in Athens the twice Olympic 1,500 metres champion Sebastian Coe called yesterday for an investigation into the coaches of athletes who fail drug tests.

"We have a responsibility to look forensically at the chain of custody and establish the credentials of the coach," the former British MP told an anti-doping seminar. "If you have evidence it should be the responsibility of the governing body to look beyond simply the competitor."

Coe said spectators could be watching a "competition between chemists" in the future.

Spyros Capralos, executive director of the 2004 Athens Organising Committee (ATHOC), said it was committed to hosting a clean Games and would open a new anti-doping centre in time for the Olympics.