Coe says no easy answers to doping problem

LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) London 2012 Olympics organising committee chairman Sebastian Coe today said there were no easy answers to the problem of doping in sport as preparations for the Games reached another milestone.

With the sports pages dominated by doping in the Tour de France and in athletics Coe, who won the 1,500 metres gold at the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Games, said the battle against cheats would be a long one.

''I have experience of medical commissions and I was one of the first athletes to speak out in a very public way,'' Coe told Reuters.

''There are no quick fix solutions here, you need protocols, level playing fields, athletes in every part of the world competing at the highest level have to know that there is uniformity of punishment and sanction.

''That's what drives us and we will have a zero tolerance policy in 2012, that's absolutely essential.'' Coe said he welcomed the British Olympic Association's commission into anti-doping, announced this week, but confirmed all doping controls in London would still be carried out by the International Olympic Committee.

Later, in a ceremony just east of the city, the London Development Agency (LDA) officially handed over the 2.5 square kilometre site that will host the 2012 Olympic Park including the main stadium and athletes village.

With all the land now in their possession, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) can begin demolishing old industrial buildings and clear the land.

''We've been working for two years now to get into this position where we can start demolishing the old and bringing in the new and it's a pretty big moment for a host city,'' Coe said. ''This makes it absolutely clear that we are on schedule.'' The next step is for all the design and construction contracts to tied up. The final design for the Olympic stadium, being built by the Team McAlpine consortium at an estimated cost of 500 million pounds, is expected in October.

Earlier today London Mayor Ken Livingstone told the BBC that the 9.3 billion pounds budget to deliver the Games was ''excessive'' and said he would take it as a personal defeat if ''several billion could not be saved''.

''He is quite right that we should put as much downward pressure on costs,'' Coe said, stressing that legacy was just as important as flashy structures.

''People internationally now don't think Games should be bigger just because the last ones were big...people want to know that thought has been put into what happens afterwards. If you don't have that thought you end up with some of the difficulties Athens faced.'' REUTERS SY BD2323