Jacques Rogge and John Fahey, respectively the Presidents of the IOC and WADA (International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency), met for the first time today at a meeting in Lausanne attended by the heads of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) and of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) as well as the chairmen of the IOC Athletes' and Medical Commissions.

The details of what was discussed and where they all are in the anti-doping war are yet to be revealed, though it is to be hoped that an overhaul of a system that catches a high-profile, multi-tested athlete such as Marion Jones only because she confesses, is due. The track sprinter's case highlights the fact that it is possible to cheat and get away with it over relatively long periods of time.

'The IOC has been wholeheartedly supporting WADA and will continue to do so in the future. Mr Fahey can count on the total commitment of the Olympic Movement in the fight against doping,' said Rogge. 'WADA has come a long way with the establishment of the WADA Anti-Doping Code, for example, but challenges remain. Efforts are still needed to allow the full implementation of the Code by the Olympic Movement by 1 January 2009 and the adhesion by governments to the UNESCO Convention. I am confident that Mr Fahey will significantly help to move things forward.

'The IOC itself continues to enforce its zero-tolerance policy against doping through a comprehensive programme of testing during each edition of the Olympic Games - 4,500 in- and out-of-competition tests will be carried out next summer in Beijing - by calling upon the cooperation of governments, by imposing financial penalties on NOCs and athletes, and by denying participation in the next Olympic Games for athletes and their entourage who have been sanctioned for more than six months', Rogge added.

'The IOC President and I had a very productive meeting that focused on the next steps to be taken to further strengthen the fight against doping in sport,' said Fahey, former Premier of New South Wales and former Federal Finance Minister in Australia. 'The IOC was instrumental in WADA's inception in 1999 and, under President Rogge's leadership, has always shown tremendous support to WADA and an unwavering commitment to the fight against doping in sport. President Rogge assured me of his full and continued support to WADA's work.'

'WADA is a unique partnership between the sports movement and governments of the world,' continued Fahey. 'As the first government representative to serve at the helm of WADA, it is important for me to meet with the leader of the Olympic Movement to discuss several areas in which the fight against doping can be advanced. For one, I will be focusing much attention on maximising the role of governments for enhanced cooperation and sharing of information between governmental and law enforcement agencies and sports authorities. High-profile doping cases and investigations underscore the fact that no sport and no country are immune to the threat of doping, as well as the critical need for strong collaborative sport-government efforts in confronting doping.'

Fine words all round. But what of the results? Millions are being spent, while it took Jones a short statement to prove that you can win on the biggest of occasions, you can attract suspicion, you can deny and get away with it, while cheating all the while you are raking in the big dollars and holding yourself up as a role model to others, including the next generation of young athletes. One of the key aspects that needs to be improved in the system is a switch from blanket testing followed by boastful, official pronouncements that a 'billion tests were conducted at a cost of 50 billion pennies - all results were negative, barring the unknown idiot who got caught, etc', to a system in which experts with backgrounds in criminal pathology and related areas of training, armed with medical knowledge an idea of how a cheat is likely to behave, are free to tell testing agencies: seek out athlete A, do it here, there, and here again at this time of the day - and this is what we're looking for. If that is happening, there is scant evidence of it.

And If it all sounds too aggressive, consider the millions that Jones made before confessing. She may hand her medals back, she may go to jail, but somewhere down the line she will have access to the dollars she has never had to hand back and be free to capitalise further on a career that robbed others of their rightful place in sports history. Had she not confessed, she would have enjoyed a life of wining and dining in the finest of IOC company at times of celebrations as one of the legends of Olympic sport. her confession cut short her journey to the top table. There are, however, far too many names on the guest list of sports federations around the world that have simpy got away with it - some are even known to have behaved criminally but remain in the league of those honoured. Their presence makes a mockery of sport and heaps unnecessary shame on the organisations that had it and have it within their power to make an example of those who ought not to be tolerated.

WADA is funded by and composed in equal parts of the Olympic Movement and governments of the world. Under the Agency's Statutes, the WADA Presidency and Vice-Presidency alternate between the sports movement and governments.