Tests have yielded positives: US drugs chief

Sydney: US drugs chief Barry McCaffrey confirmed on Friday, just hours before the opening of the Sydney Olympics, that random tests by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) had yielded positives.

"The thousands of tests have yielded positives that will be informed to the international federations," McCaffrey told reporters. "There will be an announcement within the next two days." The tests were carried out over the past few months.

WADA was set up by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year to try to combat the menace of drugs in sports. McCaffrey said the agency had conducted 2,040 tests throughout the world.

At a news conference earlier, McCaffrey, who has been critical of the IOC's commitment to fighting doping, acclaimed the Sydney Games as a turning point in the fight against drugs.

"I think there is a really changed environment," he said. "These are the most drug-tested Games in history. We have had some athletes leaving Sydney, we have had some athletes not coming to Sydney."

McCaffrey was asked whether he thought the two tests for EPO (erythropoietin), a drug used by distance runners and swimmers to enhance the blood's capacity to carry oxygen, were sufficient. The tests have been introduced for the first time at the Games.

"No," he replied. "But it's remarkable we have a test that is legally sustainable"

Baumann hearing begins

Also on Friday the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) arbitration panel finally began hearing into the doping case of Germany's 1992 Olympic 5,000 metres champion Dieter Baumann.

The hearing was adjourned for 24 hours on Thursday to allow Baumann to attend in person but when he failed to turn up on Friday the panel decided to proceed without him. Baumann has been training at the German team camp in Queensland.

Baumann, 35, was cleared by the German federation after testing positive for nandrolone last year, but the IAAF council did not accept his contention that somebody had spiked his toothpaste and referred the case to arbitration.

IAAF spokesman Giorgio Reineri said the hearing would probably last two days with an announcement not expected until a council meeting on Tuesday.

Reineri said the case of serial drugs offender Aleksandr Bagach had been referred to the council by the federation's doping committee with a recommendation that it also go to arbitration.

The 33-year-old shot putter, who won the bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games, tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone at the European Cup in 1989.

Three years ago he was stripped of the gold medal at the Athens world championships after a positive test for the stimulant ephedrine and this year he was cleared by his national federation after massive amount of anabolic steroids were detected in his urine.



(c) Reuters Limited.