Ireland's Dr Joe Commiskey has been appointed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Samaranch to the IOC Medical Commission making him one of the most senior Irish medical persons working in world sport. Having been the chief medical officer to the Olympic Council of Ireland for 11 years, Dr Commiskey will work in the area of sports medicine and physiology and brings with him a particular expertise in asthma and stimulants. There are around 100 people world wide on the IOC Medical Commission.

"It was my view that the diagnosis of asthma is too loose. Athletes can arrive in an airport and tell their team doctor that they suffer from asthma then use a stimulant. That doesn't allow for good care of athletes and it doesn't stop people taking stimulants," he said yesterday.

"Surveys show that in some sports which take place in cold environments such as ice hockey, 49 per cent claim they have asthma while the figure in the summer games was 20 per cent.

"In clinical practice the figure is closer to three per cent and maybe with exercise that would go up. But clearly a very high percentage of athletes claim to have asthma and I think it should be tightened up."

Dr Commiskey qualified from UCD before studying Pharmacology as a postgraduate then completed his post doctoral training at Stanford University in California before becoming a clinical professor of Medicine. Returning to Ireland he has been in private practice in Respiratory Medicine in Blackrock Clinic since 1985.

Since then he has worked at the Barcelona and Atlanta Games and last year was appointed chairman of an International Drugs Results Tribunal at the 1999 US Olympic Cup in San Diego. He is also a member of the IRFU's Drugs Review panel.