Dilemma for USATF

American athletics chiefs admit they are in a Catch 22 situation after announcing a "Zero Tolerance" campaign against drugs abuse in the sport.

USA Track & Field know that failure to unmask dope cheats with their new beefed-up powers will be seen as another case of not matching words with actions.

However, if their new plan succeeds in detecting a significant number of cheats - Olympic stars who test positive face possible lifetime bans for a first offence under new rules - the image of the sport will be tainted in the minds of the public.

USATF are adamant, however, that the risk of bad publicity is one they must confront if they are to get to grips with doping.

"As we know from the last 14 years, catching drug cheats itself creates in the public's mind the notion that a sport 'has a drug problem' and the flip side is true - sports that don't test 'have no drug problem'," says the new "Zero Tolerance" action plan.

"Unfair as that may be, this is our only way out of our current problem and we must choose this route."

Bad publicity of a different kind finally nudged the USATF into adopting their draconian new powers.

Several leading American stars of the present day and the recent past have been reported to have failed dope tests and questions have been raised at USATF's way of handling the issue.

Furthermore, the revelation of the use of a new designer drug (THG) - several international sportsmen of high standing have been linked by press reports with its use - has also refocused attention on the problem.

The alleged mishandling of historic cases will not be affected by the new rules - the measures when they are formally adopted in December will not be retrospective.

However, the new measures are certainly a change in culture for the USATF.

A lifetime ban for a first offence and fines of up to $100,000 (€84,000) are planned while athletes and coaches will be encouraged to act as whistleblowers to help anti-doping authorities detect cheating.

Former cheats will also be encouraged to assist in the battle against doping while USATF has even urged the use of private investigators.

The sleuths "would get inside our sport and other Olympic sports and develop intelligence concerning who is cheating, how they are cheating and who is supplying them", according to the governing body.

One of America's most respected athletes - hurdles legend Allen Johnson - believes the vast majority of athletes are honest.

"I tend to think everyone is clean," he said. "I would think 99 percent of the athletes, I think, are clean."

"The Olympic team will not suffer," Johnson said.

"We have enough clean athletes to perform as well as they ever have.

"We have enough clean athletes to win gold medals."

Johnson, 32, vowed that the US team itself would have no truck with cheating, saying: "The attitude (of the team) is going to be that they cheat on us and we will get rid of them."

USATF chief executive officer Craig A. Masback insisted that the governing body had been serious in its previous attempts to combat doping, comparing them favourably to those of other high-profile sports bodies.

"Olympic sports are the only domain where there has been a serious anti-doping attempt," said Masback.

He insisted that there was no acceptable level of doping in sport, saying: "I am concerned even if there is one positive (test). It is of concern to us."

USATF has called for an emergency summit which will be hosted by the office of the United States government drugs czar and which would be attended by other sporting bodies.

Citing the success of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in identifying the new designer drug (THG) on the basis of information provided by a coach, USATF have also established a new hotline for tip-offs from whistleblowers.

Not only athletes but guilty coaches would face punishment under the new guidelines.