International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach is urging national Olympic committees to weed out drug cheats before their teams travel to the Winter Games in Sochi in February.
Speaking at the European Olympic Committees general assembly on Friday, Bach says “Please, speak with your national anti-doping agencies. Speak with your governments. Speak with your national federations. And perform pre-competition testing and make sure that you can be proud of your team in the end.”
Bach adds that “you can win as many medals as you want” but with one big doping case “the image of your (entire) team is tainted ... So it is in your own interest to arrive in Sochi with clean athletes”.
Bach says overall tests for Sochi have been increased by 40 per cent over the 2010 Games in Vancouver.