The president of the International Olympic committee, Jacques Rogge, has outlined measures the IOC is considering to tackle the potential threat of corruption associated with gambling.
In the opinion of Rogge, sportsbetting has the potential to be as damaging to the Olympic movement as drug abuse and he invited Lord Conlon to address an executive meeting of the IOC board in Lausanne in December. Lord Conlon is more famously known as the former Metropolitan Police commissioner in London, and was also the head of the International Cricket Council's anti¬corruption unit. His experiences whilst working with the cricket betting scandals of recent years is hoped to give the IOC the necessary insight to avoid any corruption at the forthcoming summer Olympics in China this year and London in 2012.

The Chinese and the British are well known for liking a flutter, and Rogge is anxious to protect the movement from betting scandals which have clouded other competitions. One sport which has had the integrity ripped out of it faster than a bookie can run off with your money is the Italian Serie A, which has been subject to investigations of match fixing. In the UK bookies even set markets on whether athletes who are given a life ban for drug use in athletics win an appeal against the ban, Christine Ohuruogu being the most recent example.
Bookies are now offering prices on whether the initiative will be successful, with all the smart money going on the'no'. That is a joke, of course.