Winter Olympics: First positive test

The Winter Olympics suffered its first positive drugs test when the International Olympic Committee announced that an unnamed Belarussian athlete had turned in a positive sample for the banned steroid nandrolone.

The athlete, believed to be a speedskater, turned in a first test which contained 380 times the legal level. But the test was declared legally invalid because a bag which contained several sealed samples was not properly sealed itself.

The athlete did not show for the scheduled re-test. The director of the IOC’s Medical Commission Patrick Schamasch said: ‘‘We can say that we have had a positive result from the laboratory.’’

As a result of the no-show of both the athlete and the Belarussian Chef de Mission Yaroslav Barichko, the IOC have clamped down hard on the team.

The IOC will take away all financial support for the Belarus team for 2002, believed to total around £80,000 (€131,000). The athlete will not be permitted to enter other events until a hearing takes place, but the sanction does not affect any other athlete in the Belarussian team.

It is the first positive test among approximately 300 tested events in the Games. Each medallist and another random athlete are tested after each event.

Meanwhile, International Skating Union president Ottavio Cinquanta today unveiled his proposal for a radical shake-up of the figure skating judging system.

Cinquanta persuaded the ISU Council to agree to a plan which he will put before the ISU Congress in Kyoto in June. It proposes to scrap the nine-judge, six-point system which Cinquanta feels will minimise the risk of similar controversies as that which blighted the pairs figure skating final.

Cinquanta said: ‘‘This system has been in place for decades and it has proved to be a good one, but now in the light of the necessity for change in sport, in my opinion it is time to find something new.

‘‘The ISU is a pretty conservative international federation, and not easy to persuade, but we must now focus on this new system.’’

The idea Cinquanta proposes is based around the idea of skaters building points, rather than starting out with six and having marks withdrawn for inefficiencies.

Thus there will be a specific points-scoring table for specific jumps. A further mark will be awarded for the grade of execution of the routine.

The complex system calls for 14 judges to replace the existing five. Of those 14, all will tap their scores into a computer but only a random seven’s scores will be processed. Neither the judges, the skaters, the crowd nor the media will ever know which judges pushed the real buttons.

‘‘I promise this system will reduce to a minimum the possibility of poor judging,’’ Cinquanta said.

"We are very proud to have produced a system for all sports which are judged subjectively. This is the start of a new era.’’