Paralympics: Clean-keen officialdom puts athletes through the hoops

By GREG ANSLEY

SYDNEY - Officials have launched an intensive sweep of the 4000 athletes competing in the Sydney Paralympics in a bid to to keep the Games clean.

More than 100 athletes have already been tested for drugs this week in the Paralympics' first pre-competition testing programmes.

And four have had their level of disability reclassified under a new system to police the complex gradings used to ensure fair competition.

International Paralympic Committee medical officer Dr Michael Riding said about 700 athletes would be tested drug-during the Games, which began last night. But few scandals are expected.

Only three athletes tested positive to steroids at the Barcelona Games.

And Dr Riding said while there was always someone who would seek an edge to get a medal, no one failed drug testing at Atlanta in 1996.

"We are mainly looking for steroids - not painkillers - and were aiming at 15 per cent of the competitors being tested, the same ratio as at the Olympic Games," he said.

"We don't plan to test every winner but we will try to cover all sports."

Dr Riding said the committee had received 28 applications for exemptions from the Paralympics list of banned drugs.

Half the applications had been allowed for health reasons.

"We find disabled athletes are more protective of what they have and we look at it as a health issue, while the International Olympic Committee regards it as cheating," Dr Riding said.

He also said that a new system of classifying disability had led to the reclassification of four athletes, and the review of a fifth.

Dr Riding said the new system replaced previous brutal and ridiculous physical methods of checking disability.

"The philosophy has been changed to what the athletes are doing and how they look is now the key," he said.

"It's not unknown for athletes to cheat but we can now review their sport and the classification is not confirmed until we have seen them in action.

"If they succeeded in pulling the wool over our eyes in muscle testing, they won't succeed when we see them in competition."

Dr Riding said said if athletes deliberately tried to mislead officials they would be disqualified - although none had so far been expelled from competition.

One athlete had come close to losing a medal at the 1984 Games and several had been ruled ineligible, but most had re-entered competition after reclassification.

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