Government cooperation needed in doping fight

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Marion Jones's prison sentence for lying about steroid use proves how effective cooperation between government and anti-doping agencies can be in the fight against drugs in sport, officials and coaches say.

"Federal investigators got Marion," International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) spokesman Nick Davies told Reuters after Jones, once the world's leading female athlete, was sentenced to six months in prison on Friday.

"There needs to be a coordinated approach," Davies said in a telephone interview from IAAF headquarters in Monte Carlo.

"The only way to win this war is to have collaboration between sport bodies and government authorities."

Jones passed 160 doping tests before finally admitting in a U.S. court last year she had taken the banned substance tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), known as "the clear," before the 2000 Olympics.

The admission, after years of denial, came as part of a plea bargain agreement with prosecutors, who charged the American sprinter with lying about her steroid use and knowledge of a fraud case involving her former boyfriend, disgraced world record holder Tim Montgomery.

She has since been stripped of her five Sydney Olympics medals, had her results since September 2000 annulled, been banned from the sport for two years and retired from athletics.

"Marion Jones's case shows the increasing importance of the cooperation of the sports movement and governments, mainly through enforcement agencies, in the fight against doping in sport," World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) director general David Howman said in a statement.

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U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) chief executive Travis Tygart agreed, noting how important federal assistance had been in the BALCO doping scandal that had affected a number of sports in North America, including athletics.

"BALCO was the first case that highlighted the importance of law enforcement partnerships with sports bodies and anti-doping agencies to be most effective," Tygart said in a telephone interview from his Colorado Springs, Colorado office.

The involvement of federal governments also brought added funding, meaning anti-doping agencies could afford more research to seek out undetectable performance-enhancing drugs, Tygart said.

John Collins, a Chicago-based lawyer who represented banned 2004 Olympic 100 meters champion Justin Gatlin in his doping hearing, agreed and said government involvement was essential.

"USADA and WADA and the anti-doping world will never have an adequate budget to keep up with those who would seek to cheat... so it needs a concerted effort by something only a government can bring," Collins said in a telephone interview.

That is why Thursday's announcement that the U.S. Olympic Committee, USADA and the major U.S. professional sports had formed a research collaborative and contributed an initial $10 million for anti-doping research was so important, Davies said.

But there may be no greater deterrent than the possibility of prison time, something only governments and law enforcement agencies could bring to the fight against doping, said Jones's university coach.

"For that brief moment of fame, people will do almost anything," University of North Carolina athletics coach Dennis Craddock told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"But I think the majority would think twice if they knew a prison sentence went along with it."

(Editing by John O'Brien)