ANTI-DRUG CHIEF ZINGS IOC

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) The U.S. anti-drug chief tore into the IOC
today, saying its legitimacy has been damaged by "alleged corruption, lack
of accountability and the failure of leadership" in the Olympics bribery
scandal.

"These events have tarnished the credibility of the movement," Barry
McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, told the opening of an anti-doping conference.

McCaffrey and European government officials demanded that a proposed
anti-doping agency be kept out the control of the scandal-tainted IOC.

German Interior Minister Otto Schily suggested that Juan Antonio Samaranch
quit as president of the International Olympic Committee and called the
organization a harmful "constitutional monarchy in sports."

Schily, in an apparent reference to Samaranch, said on German television,
"everyone must know when it's time to go."

The IOC's plan to develop uniform drug-related sanctions for all Olympic
federations suffered another setback, as even one IOC executive committee
member saying that such a system would not stand up in court.

In his opening address to the three-day conference, Samaranch called for a
new drive to wipe out "this odious and unhealthy form of cheating."

But he could not avoid the focus of attention being turned on the
corruption scandals, which have plunged the IOC into the worst crisis of
its 105-year history.

Nine IOC members have resigned or been expelled for receiving cash
payments, gifts and other favors stemming from Salt Lake City's winning bid
for the 2002 Winter Games. But representatives of several governments said
the core of the IOC's credibility had been hurt.

McCaffrey urged the IOC "to consider institutional reform, open books and
financial records." He called for "an elected membership that is
accountable and responsible."

The British sports minister was equally blunt.

"Their internal system of organization and election must be based on
democracy, accountability and honesty," Tony Banks said. "The British
government expects the IOC to clean up its act."

The government officials repeatedly said the proposed anti-doping agency
must be fully independent and not controlled by the IOC.

Samaranch said the agency should be "autonomous." Over the weekend, he
proposed that the Olympic drug chief Prince Alexandre de Merode head the
agency on a day-to-day basis.

"We don't believe the IOC should be that agency. The issue of doping goes
beyond the IOC," said Banks, who suggested the body be created under the
aegis of the United Nations or World Health Organization.

On the controversial issue of drug sanctions, proposals of an IOC working
group to streamline drug policies around the globe already ran into
obstacles and a plethora of different views were put forward at the
conference.

Following the objections and reservations of several international
federations, IOC executive board member Jacques Rogge also came out against
a uniform agreement binding all federations to abide by a unified medical
code. The IOC proposal includes a minimum two-year suspension for serious
doping offenses.

"You have to be reasonable. This is not a debate in black and white," said
Rogge. "You cannot compare athletes. Some careers span eight years, some
span 20 years. Sanctions have to be adapted to that."

In case of an imposed uniform code, "civil courts would never accept this,"
he said.

An IOC panel proposed that athletes face lifetime suspensions and fines of
up to $1 million for serious cases of "intentional doping" and suggested
selective bans for some first-time offenders.

The world soccer federation has said the proposals were too tough and
unworkable while the international swimming federation said a unified
anti-doping stance would be impossible under such circumstances.

Olympic skating champion Johann Olav Koss, representing the IOC athletes'
commission, said the group supported the two-year sanction and that it
should be applied to all sports.

On a day when little went Samaranch's way, de Merode partly blamed him for
setting the anti-doping program a decade back by opposing the establishment
of an anti-doping agency in 1989 on budgetary grounds.

"Samaranch opposed this ... as did practically the whole executive
committee. It was shot down by 90 percent of the people who favor it now,"
de Merode told the Paris sports paper L'Equipe.