No drugs haven

Perhaps it is simply coincidence that Dr Jim McDaid, the Minister for Tourism and Sport, has been preaching Old Testament fire and brimstone on the heads of drug abusers in sport from the Olympic pulpit at Homebush. Now, overseas athletes who train in Australia leading up to next year's Sydney Olympics have been warned they will be subject to the same drug tests as Australian athletes, the national drug testing agency said this week.

Natalie Howson, the chief executive of the government-funded Australia Sports Drug Agency (ASDA), said Australia would not be a drug haven for foreign athletes who train there. Without elaborating, Howson said highrisk sports and high-risk athletes would be targeted by ASDA.

"We're not a witch-hunting organisation, but Australia will not be a safe haven for drug cheats," she said.

Howson said she was disappointed that none of the US $25 million promised by the International Olympic Committee meeting in February to fight the battle against drugs had yet been made available. ASDA was spending US $1.9 million in research and wanted $5 million of the promised funds to continue its work.

"We're disappointed because there's been no sign of that money," she said.

Actually, there's no sign of the promised Drugs Programme in Ireland either. According to Irish Sports Council chief John Treacy, the appropriate Bill is swimming around in the Dail waiting to be passed. All good intentions of course.