Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 20, 1993 TAG: 9303200209
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Medium
TEAMING AGAINST DOPING
THE WORLD'S two major Olympic bodies have decided that the best way to clean up amateur sports is to work together.\ In a potential breakthrough in the fight against doping, the world's two major Olympic bodies agreed Friday to join forces in applying the same drug-testing procedures and sanctions to all sports.
The International Olympic Committee and the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations also decided to work together in addressing another pressing problem - civil law suits filed by athletes like Butch Reynolds.
"Today there is a will of all the federations and the IOC to be together," IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said. "The fight together will be much more effective. This is a good step forward."
ASOIF president Primo Nebiolo said: "We believe that the times are changing and it can now be much easier to find a good decision from both sides."
The two officials announced that the IOC executive board and the ASOIF council will hold a special meeting June 21 at Lausanne, Switzerland, to formulate solutions to the doping and litigation issues.
"On the table, we have two of the most important problems we are facing in sport," Nebiolo said.
The decision came one day after ASOIF, which represents all 26 sports on the Summer Olympic program, called for uniform doping regulations.
As of now, testing procedures and sanctions vary widely among different federations. Depending on the sport, the penalty for use of steroids can range from four years to two years to three months.
"We agree we have to be together, we have to fight together, we have to harmonize many things," Samaranch said. "If the international federations want, we can coordinate this effort."
In track and field, where the doping problem is considered especially serious, the current sanction for steroid use is a four-year suspension for the first offense and a lifetime ban for the second.
ASOIF officials said there appeared to be a consensus for a standard two-year suspension in all sports, with a life ban for a second violation.
Nebiolo, who also is president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the world governing body for track and field, was confident that most federations would agree to follow a uniform doping policy.
The issue of litigation has been highlighted by the case of Reynolds, the 400-meter world record-holder who sued the IAAF over a doping suspension and won a $27.3 million judgment in a U.S. district court in Columbus, Ohio.
"The problem today is not only a medical problem, it is a judicial problem," Samaranch said.