European Athletic Association President Svein Arne Hansen said that blood and urine samples from athletes who set European records "will be stored for a minimum of 10 years in the sport's latest attempt to stamp out drug cheats," according to Ossian Shine of REUTERS. Hansen said, "We don't want cheats to ever feel that they got away with something and that they are safe because they were not caught immediately." Hansen, who last week set up a task force to examine the credibility of records set in European athletics, said that high on his list of priorities now was "cleaning up the mess" and preventing "these types of problems" in the future. The IOC stores samples it takes during Olympic Games for 10 years, but Europe's governing body had not operated such a policy. Hansen said that the cases of doping in his sport in recent years had "wounded him personally." Hansen: "I sometimes find it difficult to contain my disappointment, my frustration and my anger. The situation is discouraging and as more accusations surface and are confirmed, it hurts every time" (REUTERS, 1/30).
