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There's one good way of avoiding a rash of damaging doping scandals at the Olympics: Catch the drug cheats before they get there.
The policy seems to be working ahead of the Beijing Games, with dozens of Olympic athletes from different sports and countries nabbed in recent weeks and months for various doping offenses.
The drug busts are the result of a global programme of increased out-of-competition screenings, including targeted testing of suspected dopers, to weed out as many dirty athletes as possible from the 10,000 competitors coming to Beijing for the August 8-24 Games.
"Our message has been: 'Leave the cheats at home. Catch them before they leave your shores'," World Anti-Doping Agency president John Fahey said. "We're seeing the dividends."
An unofficial count by the Associated Press found at least 45 athletes from 11 countries have been ruled out of the Olympics in the last few weeks for drug violations.
"You'll probably find the number is even higher," WADA director general David Howman said. "Many countries now have realised that the shame that falls upon them from a positive test at the Games themselves is something they want to avoid, so they put their athletes through rigorous testing before they leave."
