PRINCESS IN PLEA TO GOVERNING BODIES

THE Princess Royal yesterday gave warning to sports governing bodies
not to shrink from confronting those competitors guilty of drug abuse
who try to use the threat of legal action to escape being banned.

The Princess, speaking at the World Conference on Doping in Sport,
said that those bodies who were "running scared" were "failing the
majority of our athletes".

In a rare speech on drug abuse, the Princess, an Olympic competitor in
1976 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since
1988, urged delegates from hundreds of organisations to stand firm.

She said: "Athletes who choose to remain clean deserve our protection.
And, although I realise there are limitations here if international
federations, national federations and national Olympic committees, run
scared of the well-lawyered athlete or anyone else from an interested
party, then they are failing the majority of our athletes."

One piece of good news to come out of the three-day event was that a
leading British scientist, Professor Peter Sonksen, of St Thomas'
Hospital, has discovered a foolproof test for human growth hormone,
the drug used extensively by competitors in a wide range of sports,
including Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter before the 1998 Olympics
when he was stripped of his 100 metres title.

Professor Sonksen, who has been backed with UKP1.3 million from the
IOC and the European Union, said that he his research had been "very
positively received" by the IOC medical commission.

However, it will need the IOC's backing of blood samples from
competitors if the tests are to be brought in in time for the Sydney
Games. This may provoke some ethical opposition from some competitors.