(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-13 07:03

Last month, former US sprint star Marion Jones admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs during her legendary sprint career, and returned the five medals, three gold and two bronze, she received at the Sydney Olympics.

On November 1, the former world No 1 and five-time Grand Slam champion Martina Hingis announced her retirement from tennis after being tested positive for cocaine during Wimbledon.

Two days later, two Chinese athletes had their scores at the country's 6th City Games annulled by the organizing authorities for using prohibited substances.

They are only some of the latest to find their names tarnished by performance-enhancing substances, a curse to competitive sports.

The use of performance-enhancing drugs is contrary to the spirit of sport that celebrates health, fair play, and equality in the pursuit of excellence. Besides blaspheming sportsmanship, it inflicts lasting damage to athletes' bodies.

Lots of rules, codes and institutions are in place at national and international levels to fight the outrageous dishonesty. But they obviously do not suffice to counter the temptation of the easy money and fame obtained with the help of steroids.

The establishment of the China Anti-Doping Agency (CADA) is a practical step to upgrade institutional guarantees in our fight against this shameful form of cheating. It is not only a move to honor our commitment to the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport as a signatory, but also a timely boost to our anti-doping capacities for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Combining the anti-doping functions and resources formerly scattered in different departments into a specialized institution will dramatically improve efficiency.

With its own staff and facilities, the CADA will no doubt present more sophisticated technical and institutional backup for monitoring doping violations. With the 2008 Games drawing closer, we do not worry about its access to generous funding and state-of-the-art equipment.

But to live up to the high hopes it has evoked, the CADA must be able to operate independently. Which means it must be thoroughly divested from departmental interests.

For all institutions supposed to play disinterested judges, neutrality means credibility.

(China Daily 11/13/2007 page10)