IOC gets tough on countries hosting Olympics
Published:Monday | October 5, 2009 | 5:53 PM
Countries could be barred from hosting the Olympics, starting with the winter games of 2018, if they don\'t have laws that empower police to raid and investigate people suspected of helping athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs.
The value of such police powers was driven home to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by the winter games in Turin in 2006.
Italian police, acting on information from the IOC, raided the Austrian cross-country and biathlon team lodgings and seized a large amount of doping products and equipment.
IOC president Jacques Rogge has asked the chairman of the IOC\'s medical commission, Arne Ljungqvist, to prepare a formal proposal that such laws become a requirement for cities bidding for the games.
Such a requirement could bar some countries from bidding for the games or force them to change their laws so that police can conduct raids in investigating suspected doping offenses.