Saint or Sinner?: A Reconsideration of the Career of Prince Alexandre de Merode, Chair of the International Olympic Committee's Medical Commission, 1967–2002

Abstract

This article explores the role of Prince Alexandre de Merode in heading the IOC's fight against drugs from the 1960s to 2002. History has not served de Merode very well. He has been presented in simplistic ways that emerge from context rather than evidence – as either a saint or a sinner. IOC-sanctioned accounts cast him inthe mould of the saint: a moral and intelligent man who saved sports from doping. In contrast, sports academics have tended to portray him as a sinner: an ineffectual leader who did not develop either the testing systems or the punishments required to prevent doping and who deliberately concealed evidence of high-profile doping cases. This article assesses both representations before presenting information to support a richer and more complicated interpretation.

Saint ou pécheur ? Une reconsidération de la carrière du Prince Alexandre de Merode, président de la Commission Médicale du Comité international olympique (1967–2002)

Paul Dimeo, Thomas M. Hunt and Matthew Bowers

Cet article explore le rôle du Prince Alexandre de Merode dans la lutte contre le dopage qu'il a mené au sein du CIO de 1960 à 2002. L'histoire n'a pas servi très bien de Merode. Il a été présenté de manière simpliste comme saint ou pécheur à partir du contexte plutôt qu'avec des preuves à l'appui. Les comptes rendus du CIO en font un saint : un homme intelligent et honnête qui a sauvé le sport du dopage. Au contraire, les universitaires ont eu tendance à le dépeindre comme un pécheur : un dirigeant inefficace qui n'a développé ni un système de test ni les punitions requises pour empêcher le dopage, et qui a délibérément dissimulé les preuves de cas de dopage manifestes. Cet article évalue les deux représentations avant de présenter des éléments propres à une interprétation plus riche et plus complexe.

Santo o pecador? Una reevaluación de la trayectoria del príncipe Alexandre de Merode, presidente de la Comisión Médica del Comité Olímpico Internacional entre 1967 y 2002

Este artículo analiza el papel del príncipe Alexandre de Merode como director de la lucha del COI contra el dopaje entre la década de 1960 y 2002. La historia no le ha hecho mucha justicia a De Merode. Ha sido presentado de forma simplista, más en función del contexto que de las evidencias, bien como un santo o bien como un pecador. La historia sancionada por el COI lo presenta bajo el aura de un santo: un hombre ético e inteligente que salvó del dopaje al deporte. En contraste, muchos investigadores del deporte han tendido a retratarlo como un pecador: un líder incapaz que no desarrolló ni los sistemas de detección ni los castigos necesarios para evitar el dopaje, y que ocultó deliberadamente pruebas de importantes casos de positivos. Este artículo valora ambas representaciones antes de presentar información en apoyo de una interpretación más rica y compleja.

Heiliger oder Sünder? Eine Neubetrachtung der Karriere von Prince Alexandre deMerode, Vorsitzender der medizinischen Kommission des Internationalen Olympischen Komitees, 1967–2002

Dieser Artikel erörtert die Rolle von Prince Alexandre de Merode, der von den 1960ern bis 2002 den Kampf des IOC gegen Drogen anführte. Die Geschichtswissenschaft hat de Merode bislang wenig Beachtung geschenkt. Er wurde bislang in allzu vereinfachender Art – entweder als Heiliger oder als Sünder – dargestellt, die eher vom Kontext als von Beweisen hergeleitet wurde. Die vom IOC gutgeheißenen Beiträge sehen ihn in der Gestalt des Heiligen: ein ethisch handelnder, intelligenter Mann, der den Sport vor Doping geschützt hat. Sportwissenschaftler haben hingegen eher dazu geneigt, ihn als Sünder darzustellen: ein ineffektiver Anführer, der weder das benötigte Testsystem noch die Bestrafungen entwickelt hat, um Doping zu verhindern und der in hochbrisanten Dopingfällen willentlich Beweise unterschlagen hat. Beide Darstellungen werden zunächst bewertet bevor Informationen präsentiert werden, dieeine fundiertere und kompliziertere Interpretation ermöglichen.

Keywords:

• sport
• policy
• ethics
• anti-doping
• International Olympic Committee

Notes

1. Dimeo, A History of Drug Use in Sport.

2. Wrynn, ‘“A Debt was Paid Off in Tears”’.

3. For further information on this topic see Hoberman, Mortal Engines; Hoberman, Testosterone Dreams; Houlihan, Dying to Win; Houlihan, ‘Policy Harmonization’; Voy and Deeter, Drugs, Sport, and Politics; Beamish and Ritchie, Fastest, Highest, Strongest; Waddington and Smith, An Introduction to Drugs in Sport; Hunt, ‘Drug Games’.

4. J. Rogge, ‘Prepared Text for the IOC President: Opening Ceremony of the 113th IOC Session’, 3 Feb. 2002, IOC Archives, Lausanne.

5. Miller, Athens to Athens, 356–7

6. Pound, Inside the Olympics, 74

7. Hoberman, Testosterone Dreams, 253

8. Møller, ‘Knud Enemark Jensen's Death’.

9. Hunt, ‘Drug Games’.

10. US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Investigative Hearings.

11. Dimeo, A History of Drug Use in Sport.

12. IOC Executive Board minutes, Sept.–Oct. 1968.

13. 63rd IOC Session minutes, 7–9 Oct. 1965.

14. Strangely, Dick Pound (Inside the Olympics, 55–9) argues that the problem with early anti-doping efforts in the IOC was that too much responsibility was given to the scientists who approached the problem as an extension of their own research rather than as an ethical issue.

15. J.W. Westerhoff, ‘Letter to Avery Brundage’, 23 June 1967, Correspondence File, IOC Archives, Lausanne.

16. A. Brundage, Letter to the Marquess of Exeter, March 1967, Correspondence File, IOC Archives, Lausanne.

17. Cited in ‘Report on the Tests for Detecting the Use of Stimulants by Athletes Participating in the III International Sports Competition, Mexico City, October 1967’, 1, IOC Medical Commission Archives, CIO JO, 1968S MEDIC, 1967.

18. A. Brundage, ‘Dope and Sex Tests’, letter to all members of the IOC Executive. Board, IOC Lausanne and Prince Alexandre de Merode, 29 Aug. 1968, Correspondence File, IOC Archives.

19. A. Brundage, Letter to Prince Alexandre de Merode, 29 Aug. 1968, Correspondence File, IOC Archives.

20. IOC Executive Board Minutes, March 1969.

21. Crawford ‘Olympics Games: 1896–1984’; Beamish and Ritchie, Fastest, Highest, Strongest; Wrynn, ‘“A Debt was Paid Off in Tears”’.

22. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad, Official Report, 278

23. Ibid.

24. ‘Report on the Tests for Detecting the Use of Stimulants’, 1.

25. Cited in Maier, ‘Combating Drug Abuse in Sport’, no page number.

26. Landry and Yerlès, The International Olympic Committee, 255.

27. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XX Olympiad, Official Report, 116.

28. Bateman, ‘The Freaky World’, 262.

29. Ibid.; Pellizza, ‘Anabolic Substances’.

30. Bateman, ‘The Freaky World’.

31. Cited in Landry and Yerlès, The International Olympic Committee, 257.

32. Dimeo, A History of Drug Use in Sport.

33. Landry and Yerlès, The International Olympic Committee, 257.

34. Organizing Committee for the XII Winter Olympic Games at Innsbruck, Final Report, 195.

35. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XXI Olympiad, Official Report, 454

36. Ibid., 455–6.

37. de Merode, ‘Doping tests at the Olympic Games in 1976’, 16.

38. Ibid.

39. ‘No Positive Tests!’

40. Rogozkin, ‘Doping Control’, 158.

41. Hunt, ‘Drug Games’, 93

42. Kamuti, ‘Medical Aspects of Violence’, 41.

43. Landry and Yerlès, The International Olympic Committee, 258

44. Rogozkin, ‘Doping Control’.

45. ‘Olympic Wishes for 1981’, 687.

46. Landry and Yerlès, The International Olympic Committee.

47. de Merode, ‘Anti-doping Control’.

48. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XXII Olympiad, Los Angeles 1984, The Official Report, 354.

49. Ibid., 358.

50. Todd and Todd, ‘Significant Events’, 82–3.

51. de Merode, ‘Medical Commission’, 731.

52. Ibid.

53. Houlihan, Dying to Win, 312

54. Sports Council, The Social Context of Doping, 156.

55. Fitch, ‘Book Review’, 76.