Rogge's drugs fear

The new International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge fears the Olympics may never be free of drugs. The Belgian, who succeeded Juan Antonio Samaranch as the head of the IOC last week, has pinpointed drug abuse as the greatest threat to the future of sport.

Speaking yesterday, on the eve of the sixth European Youth Olympic Days, in Murcia, Spain, Rogge warned that sports credibility is being tarnished by drugs cheats. "We cannot win the war, but we can reduce the levels because the level of doping is unacceptable," he said.

"The absolute priority for the Olympic movement is the fight against doping. If we do not tackle the level of doping mothers will not want to send their children to sports clubs."

Rogge is now determined that the reputation of the Olympic movement must suffer no more and has promised to use his powers to try and clean sport up.

"There are some drugs on the market that we can't test, we need more research. Doping is the same as criminality in society," he added. "Sport today is in a golden era. I believe that sport can remain in that golden era."