OLYMPIC SWIMMER MILLER TESTS POSITIVE FOR MARIJUANA

The Olympic swimmer Scott Miller has tested positive for the use of
marijuana and a prominent athlete has been caught using steroids.

Miller, 22, a silver medallist in the 100 metres butterly at last year's
Atlanta Games, has engaged the solicitor Mr Chris Murphy and will strongly
deny using the drug.

If the test result stands, Miller could face a twoyear ban from swimming
under new drug guidelines unveiled by the Australian Olympic Committee
(AOC) yesterday.

Concerned that there are 13 unresolved allegations of Australian drug use
in Olympic sports, the AOC formalised the changes at a board meeting in
Melbourne on Thursday.

Marijuana is on the International Olympic Committee's list of banned
substances, with the present Australian penalty for a first offence being a
ban of up to three months.

However, under the revised AOC policy, effective from December 1, Miller
could be banned from competitive swimming for two years.

The positive test caps a turbulent time for Miller since his Atlanta
triumph 16 months ago.

He was expelled from the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra as a
scholarship holder for breaches of conduct, and after he received a
dislocated finger and bruised face in a brawl at a Canberra nightclub.

The IOC has included marijuana on its prohibited list because it believes
athletes should be role models.

Apart from Miller's positive test and the trackandfield steroid case,
there are a further three positive test results in Olympic sports which
have yet to be dealt with by disciplinary tribunals.

This is in addition to eight entries in seven Olympic sports on the 1997
register of the Australian Sports Drug Agency, together with the recent
revelation of action against two bobsleigh athletes.

The AOC's new policy will make sports more accountable for their actions
against drug cheats and will make it mandatory for them to update their own
policies by March 1 next year.

Olympic sports will also be required to appoint antidoping control officers.

The AOC executive in future will be able to impose sanctions on Olympic
sports that do not apply its policy, including making them ineligible to
nominate delegates to the executive, and fines.