Aussies compile drugs 'hit list'

Ben Johnson tested positive for steroids in 1988

Australian customs officers have been issued with a "hit list" of Olympic athletes who may attempt to smuggle banned performance-enhancing drugs into the country before the Sydney Games.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper a number of athletes will be targeted for bag and body searches on arrival.

All competitors and officials from some sports will face what one officer described as "more thorough questioning and examination," the Herald reported.

Athletes from certain sports will face close examination at airports

The Australian Olympic Committee earlier proposed that athletes not be searched for drugs and should be given notice before searches were carried out in their accommodation and venues.

The revelations of targeted drug searches came after customs officers at Perth Airport last week confiscated a banned substance containing ephedrine from a South African Olympic swimming coach.

The South African official declared he had 14 tablets of the fat-burning pills Ma Huang last Wednesday and was allowed to continue with the team to Sydney.

John Hawksworth, the Olympic co-ordinator of Australian Customs Service, said the organisation had spent six years planning for the Games and was determined to ensure it detected any drugs.

The Australian Customs Service will increase its staff at Sydney Airport from 600 to 800 people, he said.

"All our work is done on a risk-assessment basis. But the vast majority of (athletes) will go through smoothly without us interfering with them," Hawksworth was quoted as saying.

Hawksworth said customs officers were the only line of defence against the increasing use of Human Growth Hormone, which is undetectable using conventional doping tests.

The Australian Sports Drug Agency has already started out-of-competition testing on athletes training in Australia.

The bulk of Olympians were expected to arrive in Australia on 2-3 September.