"I have been told by Olympic officials that there have been positive drug tests that have been covered up...

They (the officials) have direct knowledge of this and at some point this information will come out. I believe it will all be revealed when some of these officials are subpoenaed and under oath in a federal court...

At that point in time, I think you are going to see that there has been rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs at the elite level of sport - Olympic and professional - for decades...

Without going into specific numbers, it's the overwhelming majority in my opinion."

May 6, 2008 - Victor Conte 

"According to the IOC [International Olympic Committee] director general, François Carrard, the fact that only eight athletes out of 11,000 Olympic competitors tested positive is proof that 'the war on doping is being won.' But the argument that the small number of athletes testing positive is indicative of the low prevalence of doping is nonsense.

The number of positive tests is an extremely poor indicator of the prevalence of doping...There is general recognition among those involved in elite level sport that those testing positive represent only the tip of the iceberg. It is impossible to estimate precisely how big that iceberg is, but it is clearly very large.

While some sports, for example badminton and handball, appear to be relatively drug-free, the recent history of sports such as cycling, weightlifting and, increasingly, track and field and swimming is synonymous with doping. By 1968 an estimated one-third of the U.S. track and field team used steroids in their preparation for the Mexico Olympics. There is no evidence that drug use has since declined...

Firstly, drug-using athletes often beat tests because they have access to specialized medical advice from sports physicians...Secondly, there is evidence of collusion between dope-using athletes and senior officials. Positive tests have been 'lost' at several Olympics. Dr. Wade Exum, former chief doping officer for the U.S. Olympic Committee, recently claimed positive tests on American athletes were concealed, while Robert Voy, formerly the committee's chief medical officer, claimed in a sworn affidavit that the committee routinely covered up positive tests. In his recent book, 'Positive,' the Australian discus thrower, Werner Reiterer, claimed he was tipped off by Australian officials about when tests were to take place."

Oct. 4, 2000 - Ivan Waddington, PhD 

"A survey of 1972 Olympians revealed that 68 percent of the participants had used then-legal steroids...It wasn't until the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal that the Olympics began full-scale drug testing...But no testing system is foolproof...

Consider Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter who had his Olympic gold medal in the 100 meters revoked after testing positive for steroids. Some experts claim almost all of the sprinters on the track had taken some form of drugs at some time and that Johnson simply was unlucky.

Then there were the East Germans, who won 11 of 13 women's swimming events in Montreal in 1976 and continued to dominate swimming through the 1988 Games. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, documents were released revealing that the communist government fed its athletes massive doses of steroids -- about 10 times what Johnson was accused of taking in Seoul...Athletes who couldn't tolerate steroids were kicked out of the program."

Mar. 1999 - Karen Goldberg Goff 

"Athletes know that we are going to chase them. Finding a hiding place is becoming more and more difficult.

The vast majority of the athletes are clean...

There is a minority of people who are cheating, and that taints the whole sport. People have suspicions about world records and major victories which are, in fact, unfair...

There has not been a major breakthrough in testing, but I don't think there has been a major breakthrough in cheating either."

July 10, 2008 - Jacques Rogge, MD 

"[O]fficial statistics don't prove widespread doping. According to IOC, officials identified only 26 doping cases - just 0.7% of tests conducted - during the 2004 Athens Olympics. At Sydney in 2000, testing revealed only 11 cases of doping - fewer than 0.5% of tests conducted...

In 2007, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which coordinates testing of U.S. Olympic athletes in training, reported potential doping violations for 48 U.S. athletes, or just 0.6% of samples. The agency sanctioned 15 athletes, including three who did not report for tests. Another 25 cases resulted in a determination of no violation, and eight others are awaiting resolution.

But just because few athletes are caught cheating doesn't necessarily mean that doping is rare."

Aug. 11, 2008 - Marc S. Reisch, MA 

"There is a major drugs scandal at every Games. The Olympics is sport played for extremely high stakes and when the stakes are high, people will do things like this. There is a continuing arms race between the dopers and the testers.

This doesn't imply that doping is endemic at the Games. Out-of-competition testing is rigorous in all Olympic sports, and you have to be incredibly clever and devious to get through. You have to be an exceptional person to get away with it.

Of course, there are a few exceptional people at the Games. I am not saying that every athlete is tainted, only that there will always be a few people who try to break the rules when the stakes are high. It is a given of human nature."

Aug. 13, 2004 - Simon Barnes 

"Doping strategies often seem to outpace antidoping programs. There will always be those who seek to gain unfair advantage...

Athletes are now competing on an Olympic stage. Some performances may be suspect and proven to be illegitimate. But the overwhelming majority of athletes will compete fairly and cleanly. Sadly, their accomplishments are sometimes overshadowed by the debased conduct of a minority."

Aug. 12, 2008 - Andrew Pipe, MD 
Paul C. Hébert, MD