Games organisers promise tough doping blitz

MELBOURNE, Mar 9 (Reuters) One of the toughest-ever anti-doping blitzes will be staged at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, organisers promised today, with almost one in four athletes to be drug tested.

Commonwealth Games Federation President Mike Fennell said that about 1,000 of the 4,500 athletes competing in the March 15-26 Games would be tested, making it an even tougher testing programme than the 2004 Athens Olympics.

''Our message to any athlete foolish enough to attempt to go down that path and run the risk is: 'you will get caught','' Fennell told a media conference.

''Drugs in sport is a major concern,'' he added.

Fennell said Commonwealth officials had also been working with the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Australian Sports Drug Agency (ASDA) on out-of-competition testing leading up to the Games.

''We realise that testing at the Games alone is not enough,'' Fennell said.

Fennell said blood and urine testing would be conducted during the Games, as was done at the Manchester Commonwealth Games four years ago.

DRUG CHEATS ''The first time we really did it was in Manchester but the programme in relation to blood doping and testing (has been) enhanced since then,'' he said.

Four athletes tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002.

They included Indian weightlifters Krishnan Madasamy and Sateesha Rai, who were both stripped of medals they won in Manchester. Rai won two gold medals and a bronze, while Madasamy was stripped of his three silver medals.

The Melbourne testing programme will be the strictest in Commonwealth Games history and on a par with the Athens Olympics, when 2,000 tests were run on 10,500 athletes.

Officials said samples were already being taken for testing from athletes in the Games village and that about 30 percent of tests conducted would be blood samples.

Medal winners were not certain of being tested but officials warned they stood a strong chance.

Officials said they hoped no positive results would be returned but expected some drug cheats during the Games.

''We hope for the best, and plan for the worst,'' ASDA chief executive Richard Ings said.

Some samples will be frozen and kept for up to eight years to allow for retrospective testing, officials said.

Fennell said details of the Games federation's new drug education programme were being given to each of the 71 Commonwealth associations from 53 countries as they arrive at the athletes' village.

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