Vienna - International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge has said that the number of doping cases at the Beijing Olympics could still increase by seven. In an exclusive interview with the Austrian news agency APA late Friday the Belgian said that the number of positive doping cases from the Beijing Olympics could practically double.
"There were 39 cases before the Olympics, while there were eight cases during the Olympics and seven cases are still in the pipeline, so there could be 15 cases in total.
"But we are going ahead very carefully. I expect results in four to six weeks."
He said that doping in sport was like criminal activity in society. "There are some 400 million people participating in sport worldwide, but there are no 400 million holy people on earth."
Although the 66-year-old has called for zero tolerance in the fight against doping, he is dismissive of a life-long ban for first time offenders.
"No court in the world would approve that. Any athlete would win a civil court. Personally I think that doping with anabolic steroids and EPO should be followed by a four year ban.
"But first-time offenders can't be banned for life. Criminals are also not shot the first time they are caught."
Rogge said that the worldwide recession has not had a negative influence on the organization.
"Our investments are very conservative and therefore the recession has not really affected us," Rogge said.
"Talks with the hosts of the next Olympic Games in Vancouver (2010), London (2012) and Sochi (2014) have shown that they have the situation under control. There are no negative effects."
