IOC Official Questions Drug Testing in Track

TORONTO —  An International Olympic Committee vice president, Richard Pound of Canada, testified Monday that he was suspicious of the drug-testing procedures at the 1983 and 1987 track and field World Championships by the sport’s governing body, the International Amateur Athletic Federation.

It was not the first time questions have been raised about the IAAF’s testing at those meets, which together produced only one positive sample. But never before has anyone so influential as Pound publicly voiced his doubts.

Pound, a Montreal attorney who is considered a potential successor to Juan Antonio Samaranch as IOC president, told the Canadian government’s inquiry into drug use by athletes that he believed “something was very, very wrong with the testing procedures” in the 1983 World Championships at Helsinki, Finland, when he learned that all athletes tested were pronounced clean.

“My feeling was that . . . there either were positive tests that were not acted upon by the IAAF or that there were directions not to test for certain compounds or substances,” Pound said.

Pound said that was not his opinion alone.

“All over the world, people shook their heads and said (the testing) is not credible. Pressure was building on the IAAF. It was in serious jeopardy of becoming a laughingstock because of the results.”

But Pound said that four years later, two weeks before the 1987 World Championships at Rome, the IAAF further damaged its credibility by replacing two members of the IOC medical commission, who he said had been retained to administer the testing, with an IAAF vice president, Dr. Arne Ljundqvist of Stockholm.

Pound identified the IOC doctors as Manfred Donike of Cologne, West Germany, and Arnold Beckett of London.

“You could not have done better in 1987 than to have Donike and Beckett as your doping control officers,” he said. “Their reputations are first class and worldwide.”

Asked about the drug-testing results at Rome, Pound said sarcastically: “There was a huge difference over 1983. They had one positive test.”

Switzerland’s Sandra Gasser, a bronze medalist in the 1,500 meters, was the only athlete from about 200 tested at Rome reported by the IAAF to have produced a positive sample.

John Holt, IAAF secretary general, called Pound’s testimony “terribly irresponsible,” charging that the IOC vice president did not have all the facts before he spoke.

Speaking by telephone from London, Holt said that Donike and Beckett volunteered for laboratory duty at Rome but that the IAAF Council instead selected Ljundqvist and Dr. Virginia Mikhaylova of Bulgaria. Ljundqvist had served in the same capacity at Helsinki in 1983.

Holt said that Donike was bitter about not being chosen, adding that the West German doctor later testified on Gasser’s behalf against the IAAF when she challenged her positive drug test in a Swiss court. The court ruled in the IAAF’s favor.

“There is a little bit of political infighting among some of the doctors,” Holt said. “Mr. Pound was acute to have gotten hold of it.”

Ljundqvist, speaking by telephone from Stockholm, angrily denied Pound’s suggestion that the IAAF was less than vigilant in its testing procedures at Helsinki and Rome.

“I strongly reject any such allegations,” he said. “If I got a positive, I would have to react. Any other (opinion) is a very bad contribution to rumors.”

Ljundqvist said there were not more positive tests in the 1983 and 1987 World Championships because most athletes who are using drugs know how to escape detection.

“I was surprised there were any positives at all,” he said. “At the major (meets), everybody knows samples will be taken and analyzed. So I don’t expect to find positives.”

It was apparent from testimony that Pound questions the sincerity of anti-drug efforts by the controversial IAAF president, Primo Nebiolo of Italy. Nebiolo lost his position as president of the Italian track and field association because of alleged financial improprieties and questions about his role in an inaccurate measurement of an Italian longer jumper’s mark at the 1987 World Championships.

Pound complained about the recent attempt by the Assn. of International Summer Sports Federations to “water down” an agreement with the IOC on standardized penalties for drug offenders. The stronger position by the IOC prevailed. Nebiolo is the association’s president.

Pound also testified that one international sports federation’s president considers drug testing “as some sort of affront. He told me, ‘These (doctors) are sitting in the lab all day, looking for one positive sample.’ I said, ‘That’s right. That’s what they’re supposed to do.’ ”

Outside the hearing room, Pound identified the sports federation president as Nebiolo.

Pound suggested to the inquiry’s commissioner, Charles L. Dubin, that he should request testimony from Nebiolo and two IAAF vice presidents, Ljundqvist and Ollan Cassell of the United States, for clarification of the federation’s position on drugs.

Holt said Nebiolo is a leader against drugs in international sports.

“Mr. Pound doesn’t know Dr. Nebiolo very well,” Holt said. “We (IAAF officials) are not putting our heads in the sand. Obviously, something is very, very wrong when athletes are using drugs. But there’s no reason (for) telling untruths to get at the truth.”