SOCHI, Russia – When it comes to illegal sports betting at the Olympics, IOC spokesman Mark Adams says they're not playing any games.
The IOC is working with Interpol to try to limit the amount of illegal sports betting done. Adams went as far on Monday as to say that officials put betting on par with doping, which is largely considered the greatest threat to competition at the games.
"The integrity of the games is the most important thing and betting is one of those things which threatens the integrity of sport even more than doping, in some senses," Adams says.
The IOC has teamed with Interpol to develop a system that helps them monitor illegal betting patterns on events at the Olympics. Adams says they have received no evidence of suspicious activity relating to gambling or game-fixing in Sochi.
"It is something that is very much front and center for us," Adams says. "The integrity of the games in the sport, if we don't defend those, then we're lost."
— By Jon Krawczynski — Twitter http://twitter.com/APKrawczynski
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Associated Press reporters are filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: http://apne.ws/1c3WMiu
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