Call for anonymous tip-offs to help trap drug cheats

Top anti-drugs officials today called for a 'Whistleblower's Office' to be set up at future Olympics to expose competitors cheating with performance-enhancing drugs.

The proposal was made by the influential World Anti-Doping Agency in a special report on drug-testing at the Athens Games in August.

WADA claimed "anonymous tips" and subsequent target testing had led to athletes being caught during the Games.

It is clear that testers targeted Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, who withdrew from the Olympics after missing a drug test and being involved in a suspicious motorcycling accident which is now the subject of an investigation by public prosecutors. A decision on whether to charge the athletes is expected soon.

WADA argue that the special office could analyse tip-offs and decide whether there was sufficient suspicion for athletes to face tests.

The report said: "The better the available information is utilised, the more successful the target testing will be."

The report said many athletes who abandoned competitions or dropped out because of disqualification were also tested in addition to the normal tests on medal winners. WADA called for more testing to be carried out in team events and said testers also had to keep a closer eye on athletes celebrating after events in case they were planning manipulation of their tests.

It said: "One athlete about whom considerable suspicion had emerged was able to jump the boundary fence and join his fans in the stadium for several minutes before returning to the field of play and exiting."

WADA said the competitors must be supervised to stop the possibility of manipulating a sample later. Athletes in the past have been known to provide other people's urine in tests by hiding it in containers underneath their kit.