40 Doping Cases Expected At Beijing Games: IOC President
Posted July 26, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge expects up to 40 athletes to be caught doping at the Beijing Olympics, compared to 26 at the 2004 Athens Games.
In an interview published in the weekend edition of the De Standaard daily, Rogge credited the increased number and improved quality of urine analysis in out-of-competition testing and at sporting events for the projected figure.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, there were 12 positive doping results from 2,500 urine tests. Rogge said at Beijing there will be 4,500 tests.
Rogge believes the Beijing Games have led to more media and personal freedoms in China as well as a tightening of child labour laws.
But he says there are limits to the Olympic movement’s powers of generating change within the country.
Rogge denies the Olympics legitimizes the Chinese government, which is widely accused of rights violations.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge gestures during a press conference on June 23, 2008 at the IOC Headquarters in Lausanne. Photo credit should read Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images.
