Purdue News

February 4, 2002 Efforts to keep Olympic games drug-free With the Winter Olympic Games scheduled to begin Feb. 8 in Salt Lake City, Olympic officials are busy tightening efforts to keep the games drug-free. Some athletes have already been caught up in drugs controversies. Some steps have been put in place to help ensure athletes are free of banned substances: • Mandatory testing will take place in Salt Lake City, and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will bring 12 observers to the Games. • WADA will conduct their own tests, and it has also carried out 1,200 tests in the two months leading up to the Games. • Each athlete will be given a drug passport to document doping control records. Gail Newton, associate professor of pharmacy practice at Purdue, can talk about performance-enhancing drugs, how they work and how they can be detected. CONTACT: Gail Newton, (765) 494-1473, newton@pharmacy.purdue.edu.