‘Microchip athletes to stamp out doping’

LONDON: Athletes should be fitted with microchips in the same way dogs are to help stamp out doping in the sport, says the head of an organisation representing more than 100,000 Olympians.

World Olympians Association (WOA) chief executive Mike Miller told a conference in London that technology would soon allow an implant to detect performanceenhancing drugs.

“We chip our dogs,” he told a seminar on integrity and duty of care in sport, according to Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper on Wednesday.

“We’re prepared to do that and it doesn’t seem to harm them. So why aren’t we prepared to chip ourselves?”

“We need to keep in front of the cheats,” he added.

“I believe that, in order to stop doping, we need to chip our athletes where the latest technology is there.”

“Some people say it’s an invasion of privacy. It’s a club and people don’t have to join the club if they don’t want to follow the rules,” added Miller.

Miller’s organisation represents 100,000 Olympians across the world but he said he was not speaking on behalf of the WOA but in a personal capacity.

Doping has cast a dark shadow over the sport in recent years, with the Russian athletics team banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics fol lowing an invest igat ion into a state- sponsored doping programme. — AFP