IOC says will use any means to test for drugs

The International Olympic Committee said yesterday it will use every means at its disposal to test athletes for drugs at the Winter Olympics.

But the use of undercover doping testers at the Winter Games has drawn angry criticism from competitors and officials.

"In the fight against doping any means are used," IOC director Giselle Davies said when asked if undercover testers had approached skiing world champion Herman Maier after posing as fans.

"(Athletes) can be tested any time any place," she said.

Davies did not deny the reports over Maier but added: "The doping control testers have clear identification on their clothes."

Maier had told Austrian media he had been conned into meeting two doping controllers when they presented themselves as Alpine skiing fans at the Turin Olympics.

Watching Austrian skiers in yesterday's Olympic downhill race at Sestriere, Peter Schroecksnadel, president of the Austrian ski federation, said the IOC should change its methods.

"I'm against doping but they shouldn't do that. They should go up to athletes openly and show their badge. You can't treat athletes as if every one of them was a scoundrel," he told reporters.

He recalled an incident at a training session with the Austrian team a year ago when a young woman had loitered around the training area for almost a week.

Schroecksnadel said he had started thinking she was an obsessive fan when she walked up to an athlete and identified herself as a doping controller.