The IOC’s zero tolerance approach to doping continues with a pledge today to increase the number of drug tests at next year’s Beijing Olympics.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will conduct 4500 doping tests in conjunction with the Chinese Organising Committee BOCOG.

There will be a sharp increase in the number of pre-competition tests undertaken in Olympic venues and at training camps throughout the world.

IOC President Jacques Rogge told the IOC Session in Guatemala the fight against doping remains his number one priority.

He has warned “the provisions against doping in the WADA code will be scrupulously observed”.

The IOC recently imposed a $1 million US fine on the Austrian Olympic Committee after its athletes and coaches were involved in a doping scandal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

The doping scandal hurt Salzburg’s bid to host the 2014 Winter Games.

The IOC members eliminated Salzburg in the first round of voting yesterday. Their swift action came despite a promise from the Austrian Prime Minister Alfred Gusenbauer to combat doping.

Mike Tancred in Guatemala
AOC