Tougher sanctions and more rigorous testing are part of the ongoing effort to combat doping by elite athletes

Published: June 29, 2008 12:00AM

Fans of track and field have descended on Eugene this week to witness what in theory is the purest form of athletic competition: Nearly naked athletes engaged in a simple test of who can run fastest, jump highest, throw farthest.

But those simple contests become tainted when athletes look for an edge, in the form of performance-enhancing drugs, to separate themselves from the field and clear their path to Olympic glory.

No one knows how many — if any — of the athletes competing in the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials have sought that chemical edge. But the doping police are stepping up their efforts to catch and punish the cheaters in a never-ending game of cat-and-mouse.