Australian Fahey closes in on WADA's top job

By Karolos Grohmann

MADRID (Reuters) - Australian John Fahey, poised to replace Dick Pound as president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), must quickly establish himself as a crusader in the role.

He also has to overcome European suspicion and lead WADA into a new era when the world conference on doping in sport starts here on Thursday.

The doping watchdog is battling against stagnating government support and in many cases an unwillingness by sports federations to tackle a growing problem.

The 2007 sporting year was marred by doping scandals in cycling's premier event, the Tour de France, and in U.S. athletics with former Olympic champion Marion Jones confessing to taking drugs.

Outgoing president Pound, who will step down at the end of the conference on Saturday, said a revised doping code to be ratified this week would strengthen WADA.

"One of the main improvements in the code is having tougher sanctions in the case of aggravated (non-accidental) doping," Pound told reporters on Wednesday.

"We also want to make sure we don't end up having sanctions that are too strong in cases where we are dealing with accidental doping."

Fahey, a former Australian finance minister with no real sports management experience, is the only candidate for Pound's job after former French sports minister Jean-Francois Lamour withdrew from the race saying WADA was "ineffective".