Drugs In Sport: IOC tries to placate Spain in testing row

THE INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee backed away from controversial comments by the chairman of their medical commission, Prince Alexandre de Merode, by saying yesterday that the "progress in Spanish sport has nothing to do with doping".

The IOC made the statement in a press release following a meeting on Sunday between the IOC and Spanish sports officials to clear the air over de Merode's comments that Spain had been lax in its approach to doping.

An incensed Spanish Olympic Committee had been calling for de Merode's resignation ever since he said in an interview that "in Spain, there has for a long time been a tendency towards doping".

De Merode attempted to clarify his remarks at an emergency meeting of the IOC Executive Board on 20 August to discuss doping issues, saying that he had used Spain only as an example because IOC president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, is Spanish.

The explanation, however, failed to satisfy Spanish sports officials, prompting Samaranch to arrange a meeting to defuse the controversy. After it the IOC pointed out that a large number of doping tests had been carried out in Spain - 7,000 in 1997 and 5,000 so far this year.