LONDON 2012: WADA president Fahey urges drug cheats to withdraw ahead of 2012 Games

By Sportsbeat Staff

ATHLETES planning to cheat at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are being told to withdraw and stay away by WADA president John Fahey.

NOT WELCOME: WADA president John Fahey has told doping athletes to stay away
from the 2012 Olympic Games if they plan to cheat

Fahey - in his sixth year as president - was adamant that clean athletes should be rewarded for their commitment ahead of the Games in three weeks.

He believes that doped athletes, even if they were successful and undetected, would always have to live with the fact they cheated.

"I say this in the clearest way possible - if you are a doping athlete and you are planning to compete in London then you must withdraw from your Olympic team," said Fahey, a former Australian politician.

"Doping is cheating, plain and simple. And if you compete in London as a doped athlete then not only will you be cheating your fellow athletes, you will be cheating sports fans across the world, doing a disservice to your national flag and flouting the ideals of the Olympic Movement.

"A doping athlete cannot achieve success, it is a complete contradiction. Even if a doping athlete were to win a medal he or she would never be able to look at themselves in the mirror and say ‘well done, I deserved this'.

"The Olympic Games is the absolute pinnacle for many athletes, and for them to train endlessly over a four-year period and then have their efforts belittled by a doping athlete, to me that is complete and utter betrayal of what sport stands for."

The WADA president believes that potential drug cheats will be rooted out by what promises to be the most tested Games in history.

There will be 6,200 tests carried out on every one-in-two athletes, with more than 20 banned substances tested as organisers strive for the cleanest Games ever.

"These will be the most tested Games in Olympic history and doping athletes must know that they will be under the severe scrutiny of anti-doping officials from the moment they set foot in the Olympic Village," said Fahey.

"The anti-doping authorities are already sharing intelligence to assist with target testing of athletes under suspicion.

"UK Anti-Doping is mandated to test athletes in training camps ahead of the Games and has also compiled much intelligence with the co-operation of anti-doping organizations worldwide.

"There has been a coherent effort to make London 2012 as ‘clean' as possible and doping athletes should know that their chances of avoiding detection are the smallest they have ever been."

Despite the work of the world's anti-doping community, Fahey stressed that ultimate responsibility lay with athletes as to how free of doping London 2012 will be.

He added: "Athletes are responsible for what they put into their bodies and athletes are responsible for whether or not they choose to dope.

"The world's ant-doping community can only do so much. If every athlete decides not to dope then we will have a completely dope-free Games, that's the simple reality.

"It is up to the athletes and I urge them to collectively take more responsibility for the sake of clean competition."

© Sportsbeat 2012