
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 6, 1994                   TAG: 9409070107
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PARIS                                LENGTH: Short

IOC PASSES ANTI-DOPING POLICY

The International Olympic Committee adopted tough anti-doping regulations Monday that mandate a minimum two-year suspension for a first serious drug offense and a lifetime ban for a second violation.

The long-awaited IOC medical code is meant to bring all Olympic sports in line with uniform anti-drug rules, procedures and sanctions.

It was seen as important to get the code in place well before the 1996 Atlanta Games to avoid possible lawsuits in the United States.

``We were advised to have this code ready two years before Atlanta,'' IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said.

IOC executive director Francois Carrard called it a ``global document which should set the rules for all sets of testing.''

The penalty for use of steroids and other serious performance-enhancing drugs is a minimum two-year suspension, with a lifetime ban for a second offense.

The sanction for drugs known as ``sympathomimetic amines,'' commonly used as decongestants, is a maximum suspension of three months for the first offense, two years for the second and a lifetime ban for a third.

by CNB