02 October,2010 01:30 PM IST | Mumbai | Agencies
Representative image. Pic/Istock
World Anti Doping Agency chief David Howman admitted on Saturday some athletes at the Commonwealth Games could cheat and get away with it, but said it was becoming harder.
The multi-sport showpiece, featuring 71 nations, gets underway on Sunday with some 1,500 to 2,000 drug tests being conducted either pre-Games or during the event.
Asked if he thought the Games would be drug-free, Howman said it would be "dumb" to assume that.
"From my point of view, nothing surprises," he said.
"We have had many examples of athletes who have been stupid because they know there is going to be a full testing program at events like this and they still take the risk.
"I don't understand it and I don't think there will be an example where it doesn't happen."
He highlighted the case of disgraced former athletics star Marion Jones, who denied she was a dope cheat for years before finally confessing in a US federal court that she took once-undetectable steroids in 2000 and 2001.
It led to her being stripped of three gold medals and two bronzes from the Sydney Olympics.
"Will there be athletes here that have got away with it? Possibly," he said, adding that keeping samples for up to eight years was crucial to counter this.
"I don't need to tell you that Marion Jones competed at the Sydney Olympics full of drugs.
"Seven years later, having denied it for seven years, she admitted it. What happened was the right thing - she was stripped of her medals and other athletes were substituted. That should happen here -- the same sort of thing.
"As far as saying that there will be a clean Commonwealth Games or Olympic Games -- that would be very dumb of me. I can't do that and nor should I be asked to.
"What I can say is that the anti-doping program here will be a very good one."
The Games have already been blighted by a scandal, with 12 Indian athletes testing positive to methylhexaneamine, a stimulant used widely as a nasal decongestant, ahead of the event.
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