Campaign against chemicals continues
Published: 03 Aug. 2004, 19:31
At the 1952 Oslo Winter Olympics, a needle and a bottle of an undetermined substance were found in the women’s figure skating locker room, but there was no investigation, because there were no laws concerning drug use.
At the 1960 Rome Olympics, a cycler passed out from an amphetamine overdose. Finally, in 1967, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to take action.
The IOC began administering doping tests at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Games. At the time, the number of banned drugs was up to 30. But drugs that circumvented the IOC laws were being developed continuously, and the IOC had to add to the ever-increasing list of banned drugs.
The IOC was forced to hand over joint responsibility to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in January 2000. Currently, the WADA only prohibits nine specific drugs. However, WADA bans all substances that contain even traces of those nine components.
Urine tests are used to test athletes for banned substances. According to Olympic regulations, all medalists must take urine tests within an hour of finishing their event. If anything raises eyebrows, athletes are given another test. If the original result is confirmed, they face having their world records annulled and their medals taken back, as well as being banned from future events.
One athlete who faced the IOC’s wrath was Canadian Ben Johnson, the men’s track and field 100-meter gold medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, who was stripped of his medal because he tested positive for anabolic steroids.
The Korean Olympic association announced on July 10 that it will carry out doping tests on all of the country’s athletes before the Olympics.
by Hur Jin-seok
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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