Officials in Sydney are not trying to simply crack down on drug cheats, but drug barons too. Last week, a high ranking official from the International Amateur Boxing Federation, Gafur Rakhimov, was refused a visa because of his long-standing associations with the Russian Mafia and the heroin trade in Uzbekistan.

The International Olympic Committee's reaction to the decision was hilariously pompous. They were outraged that one of their own accredited officials should be treated like a . . ., er, criminal.

This week Carl Ching Men-ky, the Asian basketball president, was also denied entry by Australia. He denounced the move as a "grave injustice".

Ching also categorically denied press reports that claimed he was banned from Sydney because of alleged links to Triad underworld gangs.