Namibian sprinter Frankie Fredericks said yesterday the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should get its own house in order before lecturing athletes on the rights and wrongs of sports doping.
Fredericks, world and Olympic silver medallist at 100 and 200 metres, said the IOC was in no position to take the moral high ground when it was embroiled in a scandal over the selection of Olympic sites.
"I hope the IOC will clean up their house and get it in order because how can they tell us not to be cheats, to go and be clean when they are doing all these dirty things?" Fredericks said on the eve of a meeting in Sydney, venue for the 2000 Olympics.
"I just hope they can clean up and concentrate their efforts on keeping the sports clean because at the end of the day, that's all it's about - for the athletes," he said in answering questions from reporters.
The IOC has been rocked by allegations that Salt Lake City Olympic organisers gave cash, scholarships, medical care and other gifts to IOC members to win the right to host the 2002 Winter Games.
Fredericks said the IOC should install an independent body to investigate doping while its own credibility was in question. "I would like to see an independent body where the people who are testing us don't care about the Olympics," he said.
