The IOC voted on Saturday to allocate $2M toward
validation tests for recently devised blood tests "intended
to detect erythropoietin and human growth hormone" in
athletes. The IOC also announced that blood tests for
performance-enhancing drugs at the 2000 Olympic Games "will
be mandatory" and "subject to punishment" only if the
validation tests show to be "reliable" and are able to
"stand up in court" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/21).
MORE NOTES: In Sydney, Jacquelin Magnay reported that
all tickets to the eight finals sessions of track & field at
the 2000 Games "have been sold following unprecedented
'massive' demand during the initial ticketing offer."
Magnay: "Never before has an Olympic Games organiser sold
all track and field finals in the first release" (SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD, 8/19)....In Salt Lake City, Karl Cates cited
SLOC spokesperson Caroline Shaw as saying that ticket
policies for the 2002 Games "will be adopted by year's end"
and tickets will "go on sale in the fall of 2000." SLOC
President Mitt Romney said that "about 1.4 million tickets
will be sold" to the Games (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE,
8/20)....SOCOG has adopted a "no-smoking policy" for the
2000 Games "that will help prepare the international crowd
for conditions" in Salt Lake City for the 2002 Games. SOCOG
Deputy Chief Exec Jim Sloman said outdoor venues "will have
a designated smoking area" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 8/22).