BEIJING, China, November 29. IF the competition wasn't enough to worry about, athletes at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will have to deal with another concern: Drug-laced food. Chinese officials have indicated that athletes who eat at local restaurants could test positive for drugs. One reason is that Chinese farmers routinely inject their livestock with steroids to get higher dollars for bigger animals.
If an athlete eats enough food from an animal that was injected with steroids, there's a chance that competitor could fail a drug test. So, let's review. A few weeks after learning that swimmers would have to adjust to morning finals to suit NBC Television, the athletes will also need to watch their decisions when it comes to chow time.
Athletes will be encouraged to eat inside the Olympic Village, where surveillance systems will monitor what food enters. However, athletes going outside the Olympic Village will be on their own and taking a chance. David Howman, the Director-General for the World Anti-Doping Agency, has stated that eating food with banned substances will not be accepted as an excuse for a failed drug test. He did acknowledge that his organization looked at the topic closely.