Mark Starr

About the author: Mark Starr is a sports columnist for Newsweek magazine.

Olympic officials have begun to take the widespread abuse of performance-enhancing drugs by Olympic athletes seriously. The crackdown comes in response to fears that fans and sponsors will no longer support the Olympics if drug scandals become a regular feature of the Games. Newly established anti-doping agencies have increased the investment in drug tests designed to keep pace with drug cheats, who continually use new drugs and masking agents to beat the tests. A successful program of random drug testing was also introduced prior to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, leaving drug-using athletes with less opportunity to render their drug intake undetectable before competitions.

Ludmila Engquist dreamed of making Olympic history by becoming the first woman ever to win gold medals at...