U.S. SUPPORTS NEW DRUG STANDARDS

McCaffrey Pledges $1 Million Toward Advanced Olympic Testing

Olympic athletes should be available for drug testing 365 days a year,
not just during Olympic years, and there should be an independent
agency to administer such tests, said Barry McCaffrey, director of the
Office of National Drug Control Policy.

McCaffrey, the White House's drug czar, put those and other
recommendations for eliminating athlete drug use into a 10-page policy
paper sent to International Olympic Committee members.

McCaffrey will be part of the U.S. delegation led by U.S. Olympic
Committee President Bill Hybl that will attend the IOC world
conference on doping held in Lausanne, Switzerland, Feb. 2-4.

"We're going there to argue for the future, for a common, collective
principal of athletes that don't need to dope themselves to compete,"
McCaffrey said. "We're going to go over and put down a payment of a
million dollars on the table to begin the process."

The $1 million in federal funds will go toward developing advanced
drug testing for illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

The U.S. government became interested in the USOC's efforts to
eliminate drug use by athletes following an incident at the 1998
Winter Olympics. Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati was stripped of
his gold medal in the giant slalom after testing positive for marijuana.

Rebagliati argued that marijuana was not a performance-enhancing drug
and should not be banned. The Office of National Drug Control Policy
was concerned that this case sent the wrong message to young people
and has worked with the USOC on the issue.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy's involvement "brings to
the IOC's attention a very strong voice representing the American
people," USOC spokesman Mike Moran said. "It's a very powerful voice,
working with us." McCaffrey's proposal also includes standardizing
testing methods for every sport and every country, making available
the National Institute on Drug Abuse for research, providing
incentives for athletes, coaches and trainers to come forward to
report use of illegal substances and awarding supplemental medals to
those athletes who were deprived a medal by another athlete's use of
performance-enhancing drugs to earn a victory. "If it's understood
there's no statute of limitations [for being caught using
performance-enhancing drugs], it's a powerful incentive not to compete
through cheating," McCaffrey said.

McCaffrey also said he would like to see the IOC create such an
independent agency for testing in time for the 2000 Summer Olympics in
Sydney. His office has been in contact with several countries
eliciting support for the proposal. Some questioned whether taking on
such a thorny issue while the IOC is embroiled in controversy was a
good idea.

"This crisis they're now undergoing may allow us to take a fresh look
at some very tough problems," McCaffrey said. "Taking on the doping
challenge will not be easy. . . . There must be institutional reform
if the IOC can do the heavy lifting required to protect athletes from
a doping regime."