Eye of newt? Not for the Olympics

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Traditional Chinese herbal medicine will not be used to treat athletes during the Olympics in order to avoid doping problems, an official with the Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (BOCOG) said Saturday.

"It doesn't necessarily mean herbal medicine contains provocative substances. As other Olympic host countries haven't used it before, we choose not to use it too," said Dai Jianping, deputy director of the BOCOG's service department, at an international medical forum.

As a big international event, the Beijing Olympics will follow international medical service standards, Dai said.

However, non-drug traditional Chinese treatments, such as acupuncture, cupping and massage, will be used in the Games, he added.

He also said at the forum that a poly-clinic will be constructed inside the athlete's village, providing medical services for some 16,000 athletes from all over the world in 2008.

The 3,000-square-meter poly-clinic, which will finish construction by the end of April 2008, will ease the medical service pressure of hospitals which will still provide normal service to local people during the big event.