ATHLETES' REP QUERIES DOPING RULES

An Olympic athletes' leader called yesterday for updated anti-doping rules
before the 2000 Games including a review of the ban on marijuana use.

Brisbane-based Olympic gold medallist speed-skater Johann Olav Koss, one of
10 athletes appointed to the International Olympic Committee this month,
said the list of banned drugs in the new anti-doping code should be revised
"absolutely in time for Sydney".

He questioned the inclusion of some medical drugs on the list and suggested
that an alternative list of banned substances be drawn up for use in
out-of-competition doping tests.

The review should be a priority for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA),
which meets for the first time in Switzerland on January 13.

"I believe there are certain things where it's been seen they are used for
medical treatment, but are not performance-enhancing," Koss said. "You need
to ask if they should be on the list. This is a crucial point for WADA. The
list has to be looked at again."

Koss nominated marijuana and Beta-2 agonists, including the drug salbutamol
which asthmatic athletes can inhale under medical supervision for possible
review.

"There should be two different lists one for competition and one for
out-of-competition tests," he said.

The new Olympic anti-doping code, to come into force on January 1, provides
million-dollar fines for cheats using performance-enhancing drugs.

The code fines first-time offenders up to $US100,000 ($155,000) and
suspends them from competition for at least two years although sports
federations can shorten the suspension in "exceptional circumstances".

Repeat cheats can be fined up to $US1 million, with a lifetime suspension,
under the new code. But Koss said the Olympic code still gave sports
federations the discretion to test or punish athletes for using banned
drugs in the lead-up to the Olympic Games.

"Now, the list of (banned) substances depends on the federation. For one
federation marijuana is not on the list but for another it is," he said.

"Some federations have (the ban) only for competition and others have it
all the time.

"Obviously, it is an issue if one athlete can have one positive test for
marijuana and have no sanctions while another gets sanctions, just because
they belong to different sports or different federations.

"It should be reviewed before Sydney."

Koss, a Norwegian who has just completed his medical studies at the
University of Queensland, said recreational drugs such as caffeine and
alcohol could improve an athlete's performance.

But he suggested that marijuana, which the doping code prohibits in
"certain circumstances" that it does not clearly define, had been banned on
ethical grounds.

"With marijuana, there is always this ethical discussion. In most countries
it's still illegal," he said.

"If you take it away (from the banned list), that kind of gives a message
that you're allowed to use it."