IOC tries for doping accord with Canadians before 2010 Games

LONDON (AP) — Olympic officials are trying to reach an agreement with Canadian law enforcement authorities on fighting doping at the Vancouver Games.

Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission, said Monday the two sides are cooperating but have not settled on a strategy for the Feb. 12-28 games.

The situation is tricky because Canada does not have anti-doping laws, leaving it unclear whether authorities could raid athletes’ accommodations in Vancouver to search for drugs the way Italian police did during the 2006 Winter Games in Turin.

“Discussions are going on,” Ljungqvist said. “They will probably go on until more or less games-time.”

“We haven’t been able to penetrate it fully, but the Canadians are cooperating in a positive way,” he added. “We feel confident that we will have the necessary mechanisms in place during the games.”

The IOC is responsible for drug-testing during each Olympics, but counts on police in host countries to share information and crack down on any smuggling, trafficking and distribution rings associated with the games.

“This has become more and more important,” Ljungqvist said. “We are acting more and more on the basis of intelligence.”

In 2006, acting on an IOC tip-off, Italian police raided lodgings of the Austrian biathlon and cross-country teams outside Turin, seizing doping products and equipment.

Whether the same could occur in Vancouver remains uncertain.

“We haven’t reached that stage,” Ljungqvist said. “It remains to be seen if we reach that stage at all. That [Turin] was a unique situation. Further discussions remain to take place.”

For future Olympics, the IOC will enforce a new rule that requires host cities to have an acceptable anti-doping law in place, Ljungqvist said.

For now, the IOC is working in particular with Canadian customs authorities to prevent the import of banned drugs and equipment for the games.

“They will make sure that nothing unacceptable is brought into the country,” he said. “If they find that something has been brought into the country, they will take action and we will get to know it. That’s good.”

The IOC, meanwhile, plans to conduct about 2,000 blood and urine tests in Vancouver, a rise of about 500 from Turin.