Killy reports to IOC on Tour de France scandals

 LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- Tour de France organizer Jean-Claude Killy submitted proposals to an emergency IOC meeting today for dealing with the recent drug scandals which have rocked the sports world.
 Australian officials, meanwhile, proposed kicking drug-ridden sports out of the Olympics, imposing financial penalties on drug cheats and setting up a special IOC anti-doping agency.
 Killy, a French IOC member and winner of three gold medals in alpine skiing at the 1968 Grenoble Olympics, is president of the company which runs the Tour de France.
 This summer's race was thrown into turmoil by a series of arrests and police raids which uncovered systematic use of the banned endurance-boosting hormone EPO.
 "It was bad for sports in general and means we should make decisions now and take steps that aim to correct the problem of doping," Killy said.
 The Tour de France scandals prompted International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch to convene Thursday's special executive board meeting and schedule a worldwide doping summit in January.
 The IOC announced Thursday that the summit, originally planned for January, would be held Feb. 2-3 in Lausanne and that more than 500 delegates were expected to attend.
 Midway through Thursday's closed-door meeting, the IOC said it had appointed its four vice presidents to lead task forces on four general topics for the February summit:
 -- the protection of athletes
 -- political and legal issues, including the definition of doping and cooperation with governments
 -- ethics, prevention, education and communications
 -- financial questions, including the commercial pressures which can lead to drug use and the issue of financing the anti-doping fight
 "The objective is to reach concrete, specific decisions and measures," IOC director general Francois Carrard said. "The executive board is absolutely unanimous and totally dedicated to the fight against doping. There is not the slightest doubt about that."
 Anita DeFrantz of the United States will lead the task force on protection of athletes, Keba Mbaye of Senegal on the political and legal questions, Pal Schmitt of Hungary on ethics, and Dick Pound of Canada on the financial matters.
 Further specifics were expected to be announced at a news conference ater in the day.
 Describing the Tour's drug crisis as the catalyst for a new worldwide anti-doping effort, Killy made a 30-minute presentation to the closed-door meeting.
 "It was important (IOC officials) hear about the Tour de France," he said. "All of it started during the Tour de France. They called someone who lived through it for three weeks."
 Killy said he made specific propopals to the board for fighting drug use. Without giving details, he described them as "very concrete, very positive, very realistic."
 Samaranch fueled controversy recently by stating, in a Spanish newspaper interview, that the list of banned drugs should be slashed and only substances which are hazardous to an athlete's health should be prohibited.
 Samaranch's comments, which appeared to favor a relaxation in the antidrug fight, stunned the Olympic world and put him in conflict with some of his top aides.
 Prince Alexandre de Merode, who as chairman of the IOC medical commission has led the anti-doping campaign for 31 years, said he was "aghast" at Samaranch's remarks.
 In a startling allegation, de Merode said that Samaranch, who is Spanish, was backing the philosophy of many doctors in Spain who "have rejected the ethics of their profession."
 The Spanish Olympic Committee said Tuesday it would demand de Merode's resignation unless he retracted his accusations.
 Though he is no longer on the IOC executive board, de Merode attended Thursday's meeting and was expected to clear the air with Samaranch.
 The doping issue is particularly prominent in Australia, which will stage the next Olympics in Sydney in 2000.
 "This is the most serious crossroads we have faced since the political boycotts of the 1970s and 1980s," said Kevan Gosper, Australia's IOC executive board member.
 Gosper said he was presenting a 10-point plan for the summit, including encouraging government law enforcement agencies to prosecute drug producers and traffickers and putting pressure on drug manufacturers to help control the spread of steroids and other performance-enhancers.
 Gosper also proposed that athletes caught using banned drugs should face financial sanctions, including fines and loss of prize money and sponsorships.
 Gosper suggested that any sports federations that don't comply with the IOC's antidoping policies could be suspended from future Olympics.
 Five years ago, the IOC brokered an agreement committing all Olympic sports federations to unify their antidoping rules, procedures and sanctions -- or risk the possibility of being kicked out of the games. But the accord has achieved only limited success and the IOC has backed off its threat of expulsion.
 Gosper proposed that the IOC should consider creating its own permanent agency to coordinate the fight against drugs for all Olympic sports.