Athens feels the full weight of the 145;Rogge factor146;

For many who were in Moscow to see the handover of power, the declaration made little or no impression.

Since 1988 and the infamous Ben Johnson affair, Samaranch, a former Spanish diplomat, had been saying the same thing on a regular basis with precious few results to show.

But Rogge is no Samaranch.

Drugs and the athletes who took them had to be caught. Action not lip service was the demand now from the most powerful man in world sport.

Rogge makes no secret of his contempt of those athletes to rise to the top by cheating.

8220;For me as a man and a lover of sport 8211; I was an Olympic yachtsman 8211; they are not worthy of the mantle of Olympic champion and cannot perform any exemplary function in such a role,8221; he said in an interview two years ago. His views have not changed. Last year he called for the creation of a network of informers to help in the battle against designer drugs after the bombshell discovery of THG and the revelations of the Balco affair that has rocked athletics.

8220;We need more intelligence from the field,8221; he said.

But Rogge8217;s refusal to bow to the inevitable and accept that doping was part of modern sports culture was never more forcefully underlined than when he took on the all-powerful United States Olympic Committee and the US track and field.

Rogge had no time for cover ups. When it became public that an American gold medal athlete had tested positive before the Sydney Games but had still been allowed to compete, the battle lines were drawn.