Get Ready for Drug Bust Flurry at 2012 London Olympics Say Ex-White House Drug Spokesman Robert Weiner and Analyst Caitlin Harrison

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ex-White House Drug Spokesman Robert Weiner is saying that "With the 2012 summer Olympics in London less than two years away, it's time to prepare for an onslaught of illegal drug use during the Games. A re-look at recent Olympic history starting with the 2002 Salt Lake Games teaches an important lesson—the world drug testing apparatus must be fully prepared to keep the Games clean."

Weiner and analyst Caitlin Harrison co-authored an op-ed in the Salt Lake City Tribune today, asserting, "London, get ready for a flurry of drug busts. To stop athletes from doping during the London Games, start the drug testing now. Testing the athletes before the Games, and not just on-site during the Games, is the lesson of the Salt Lake City Olympics and since."  

"The real question is how many cheating athletes were not caught before the Games—because most cheating occurs in training, not the competition itself."

"Olympic athletes bypass drug disqualifications with waivers, called therapeutic use exemptions (TUE's), or come at the last minute to international events to avoid early testing. TUE's are legitimate for illnesses like cancer, but former World Anti-Doping Chair Dick Pound has sarcastically said that it's amazing the world's fittest athletes—Olympians—have six times the colds of the rest of humanity. TUE's are a huge loophole."

The article is entitled, "Expect Illegal drugs at 2012 Olympics".  

The authors continue, "On Oct. 18, American sprinter LaShawn Merritt, a medalist at Beijing, recently tested positive for DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone), which he blames on over-the-counter Extenze. Enlarging body parts notwithstanding, Merritt is now slated to miss the London Olympics."

"The triumvirate who created and armed WADA at its creation in 1999, WADA President Richard Pound, U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey, and USADA Head and Olympic Marathon Champion Frank Shorter, are no longer involved and pushing the envelope. Yet WADA must continue to assure that each Olympic athlete complies with its standards on banned substances—no exceptions."

"Drug busts happened in Salt Lake City, in Beijing, in Vancouver, and will occur in London.  They do not mean the Olympics are dirty—they mean the Games are being kept clean."

ARTICLE:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/50948868-82/drug-games-olympics-athletes.html.csp

CONTACT: Bob Weiner/Gavriel Swerling, 301-283-0821 or 202-306-1200

SOURCE Robert Weiner Associates