MCCAFFREY BLAMES IOC FOR IDLE DRUG PROPOSAL

White House national drug policy director Barry R. McCaffrey said yesterday
his eight-month-old proposal to establish a year-round, independent,
international drug testing agency for Olympic athletes has stalled, in part
because it has not received the full backing of the International Olympic
Committee.

"We don't see action," McCaffrey said at a Washington hotel, after
discussing drug-related issues with Australian Prime Minister John Howard,
whose nation will host the 2000 Summer Olympics. ". . . It seems to many of
us that [the proposal has] stalled. We've lost our momentum."

With the Sydney Olympics scheduled to begin in 15 months, McCaffrey said
"the clock is ticking" toward a point where no credible, independent drug
testing program could be implemented for the event.

And McCaffrey pointed to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch as one reason
for the lack of progress.

"At the end of the day, the organization reflects the leadership energy
behind it," he said. "The IOC must take action. This is a huge problem
threatening the global athletic competition system. They've got to act. It
clearly is a [question for] the IOC: Are they going to lead? Or are they
going to be pushed?

McCaffrey, in an interview, held out hope that individual countries, the
European Union and international sports federations will back a new,
aggressive drug testing plan. He said he plans to meet with government
officials from Australia and EU member countries this fall. McCaffrey
discussed the issue in Washington yesterday with British sports minister
Tony Banks.

Last November, McCaffrey proposed the development of an Olympic anti-drug
agency that would test athletes for banned substances year-round. In
February, he led a U.S. government delegation to an IOC summit on doping and
sports in Lausanne, Switzerland. "The Olympic anti-drug and doping program
should be operative 365 days of every year and should be overseen by a
separately established drug testing and oversight agency," he said at the time.

At the summit, McCaffrey helped develop objectives -- endorsed by IOC
members -- that included an independent drug testing commission.

But five months later, no commission has been established.

"The issue is being talked about," McCaffrey said. ". . . The European Union
has some good ideas they're floating. . . . What we're doing is listening
very carefully to the U.S. Olympic Committee and their thinking. The EU, the
Canadians and the Australians have all been very energetic in this approach.

"But I do think there's a grave danger of loss of momentum, and I don't
think there is going to be a credible drug-testing regime unless it's
independent to the IOC and unless it has access to the world's athletes 365
days a year."