‘Our security measures must be improved’

IOC president Bach calls for increased doping tests for Sochi Games 2014.

JOHANNESBURG: Tests for banned substances will be more stringent than ever for the 2014 Winter Olympics, the new International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said on Wednesday.

“We shall be smarter and tougher in our fight against doping than at any previous Olympic Winter Games,” he said. “What we need is the greatest possible deterrents.”

Global sports leaders will this week ratify the new code that doubles bans for intentional doping culprits from two to four years. This automatically excludes them from the next Olympics.

‘Millions’ of dollars would be spent on increasing laboratories and services for the Sochi games, said Bach, terming the costs ‘an investment to the future of our sport’.

“Our security measures, and so our tests, must be improved still more,” he said, highlighting the need for increased research into doping. “Protecting the clean athletes must be our ultimate goal. It must have top priority in all our decisions and initiatives.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2013.

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