IOC drug policies rob the innocent

So this is what we've come to: The IOC is taking gold medals away from little girls for taking cold medicine.

Andreea Raducan, the 82-pound Romanian gymnast, told a team doctor she had a stuffy nose and muscle soreness. The doctor gave her two non-prescription pills that contained pseudoephedrine, a banned substance. That's her crime.

Flash back to the 1972 Olympics. U.S. swimmer Rick DeMont was given medicine to treat an asthma attack the night before his race. DeMont was unaware the medication contained a banned substance, because U.S. doctors didn't check. The banned substance was ephedrine, basically the same stuff Raducan ingested. DeMont's gold medal was removed, and he was prevented from competing in another race.

Eighteen years later, the IOC is still penalizing the innocent.

This is progress?

"I accept procedures," said Romanian Olympic Committee President Ion Tiriac this week, "but somehow, somewhere, don't we miss the point?"

Yes, we do. The IOC and the various athletic federations are supposed to be catching cheats who take substances to gain an advantage on the playing field, not athletes with head colds and asthma.

Olympic officials say they are sympathetic, but their hands are tied in Raducan's case. They are hiding behind their new get-tough, zero-tolerance policy, as if they can't think for themselves and bring common sense to bear on this issue.

"In the fight against doping, we have to be tough and refrain from emotions and feelings," said Francois Carrard, IOC director general.

And yet . . .

Merlene Ottey was allowed to compete in the 100-meter dash (she placed fourth). Ottey received a two-year suspension in July of 1999 after testing positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone. The IAAF, which governs track, reinstated Ottey last month, citing test procedural problems. The IAAF's official explanation stated that the testing laboratory "had not taken into sufficient account factors regarding the specific gravity of the sample, which as a result did not exceed the IOC recommended reporting threshold." Whatever that means. Ottey placed the blame on a nutritional supplement.

So, a teenage girl who took Nurofen — an over-the-counter cold medication — gets the boot, and a 40-year-old woman who took steroids is allowed to compete.

Carrard says the IOC must ignore its feelings and not make exceptions, and yet . . .