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Eradicating doping and fighting obesity will be the priorities for International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge if elected for a second term, he said on Thursday.

To achieve his goals, Rogge said governments who have plunged billions of euros into banks to prop up the world's financial system must not cut their budgets for sport, health and education.

The Belgian was speaking for the first time since announcing last week his intention to stand for re-election as head of sport's top world governing body.

"My top priority will be the fight against doping. I will fight against doping as hard as I have ever done and you know my resolve in this matter which is the number one priority in the world of sport," Rogge told Reuters in an interview.

The IOC, in charge of drugs control at the Beijing Olympics in August, conducted 4,770 tests in what was the largest testing programme for an Olympic Games. Nine athletes tested positive.

"We are stepping up this fight against doping and will exceed 5,500 tests in London in 2012," Rogge said.

The 66-year-old Rogge was first elected in 2001 for an eight-year term and said last week he would run for a second term during the election to be held next year in Copenhagen. No other IOC member has announced their intention to run as president and Rogge is likely to win unopposed.

"I still have a great passion and enthusiasm for sport. I am running again because I have been useful in the past and believe I can be even more useful to the IOC in the future," Rogge said.

RISING OBESITY

Rogge said his second priority was to help reduce the rising levels of obesity across the world by getting more young people to take up sport.

"The second priority is to bring young people back into sport and I would like to launch an initiative with all the Olympic committees and international federations...to combat inactivity that is leading to a rise in obesity. We must combat obesity," he said.

Despite the financial turmoil gripping the world, Rogge said his organization's finances "are rock solid."

He admitted the spread of the credit crunch into the real economy could affect investment in sport at national, regional and local level, notably from the public sector.

"On a local and national level there is a question mark over what will governments do, especially those which have invested billions into banks. It is naive to say nothing will happen but the situation is very volatile," Rogge said.

"The crisis shows a different face every day...clearly it could have an impact on public funding but I hope that governments will consider that continuing to invest in sport is continuing to invest in health with long-term gains."

The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies around 400 million people as obese, 20 million of them under the age of five. The condition raises the risk of diseases such as diabetes and heart problems.

(Source: Reuters)