Craig Reedie said yesterday the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is on the way to raising a fighting fund of $14 million (£8.8m) to wage the war on doping.

The former chairman of the British Olympic Association now sits on the IOC’s executive board and says greater financial resources are pivotal to beating the drug cheats.

Reedie said the IOC’s German president Thomas Bach had produced two $10m funds (£6m) designed to deal with doping matters and manipulation or match fixing in sport, but he expects those figures to be surpassed after pledges of financial support from individual nations.

The 73-year-old Scot said Turkey’s cheque had already been cashed by the IOC and he believes other pledges will soon turn into hard cash for their special anti-doping reserve fund.

“Turkey’s money is in the bank and we have guarantees from China, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Ivory Coast and New Zealand,” Reedie said.

“I’m also sure Japan and Korea will commit so I’m hopeful we might raise 5 to $6m which means we’ll get 5 to $6m guaranteed by the IOC.

“There’s a lot of very advanced thinking out there using technology against doping and hopefully we can use that.

“Would that work? I don’t know, but if we have a fund of 12 to $14m we could have quite expensive research.

“You know that machine you go through at the airport which says you’ve got a gun. Well, could someone say we’ve got that technology to show the last time an athlete took a dose of steroids?

“I don’t know that answer but what we do need is to think outside the box and something easier would be helpful.”