The Advertiser
July 8, 2004 Thursday

Games official attacks Australia
Olympic drugs battle widens

By PAUL CARTER in Sydney

WORLD sport’s top drugs czar yesterday launched a scathing attack on
Australia’s handling of the Mark French cycling affair as evidence
emerged of doping allegations in weightlifting.

The Australian Weightlifting Federation has launched an investigation
after being told by the Australian Sports Drug Agency an unnamed
lifter had refused to take a drug test. The Court of Arbitration for
Sport is expected to hear the case next week.

Australia’s Olympic weightlifting team is due to be named tomorrow
with Caroline Pileggi and Armenian-born Sergo Chakhoyan expected to
be the only two weightlifters going to Athens.

“There is an incident that is causing us some concern which is being
looked at right now,” said AWF president Sam Coffa, who would only
identify the athlete as being an AWF member.

The average penalty for such an offence is a two-year ban. The
Australian Olympic Committee and the Australian Sports Commission are
monitoring the situation and have offered to help the federation
present its case against the athlete, who is contesting the charge.

World Anti-Doping Agency president and International Olympic
Committee member Dick Pound, meanwhile, said the ASC should make
public the results of former judge Robert Anderson’s investigation
into allegations against five Olympic cyclists.

“What’s going to happen if some of these people go to Athens as part
of your Olympic team,” Mr Pound told the ABC. “Australians are going
to wonder if they have sent athletes who are guilty of doping
offences. The rest of the world is going to say how is it that
Australia deals with all these things in secret.

ASC chief executive Mark Peters said he was disappointed at Mr
Pound’s criticisms which came only weeks after he welcomed the
Anderson investigation.

“One has to wonder what has changed in those two weeks that now has
him saying, without any supporting evidence that ‘Australia has badly
handled numerous drug inquiries’,” Mr Peters said.

Mr Pound said his organisation was considering writing to federal
Sports Minister Rod Kemp in a bid to force the release of the
Anderson investigation into world champions Graeme Brown, Jobie
Dajka, Sean Eadie, Shane Kelly and Brett Lancaster.

The investigation followed French’s allegations the five had injected
legal vitamins in his room at Del Monte, the Australian Institute of
Sport’s track cycling headquarters in Henley Beach.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress