Any athletes who thought they got away with doping at the
Beijing Olympics shouldn't rest easy. The drug police are
coming back.
The International Olympic Committee said today it will retest
samples from the games to search for a new blood-boosting
drug at the centre of the latest Tour de France scandals.
The move reflects the IOC's aggressive attempts to nab drug
cheats not just during an Olympics, but weeks, months and
even years later once new tests become available. Results and
medals could be at stake.
"Our message is very clear," IOC president Jacques Rogge said
in a statement. "The IOC will not miss any opportunity to
further analyse samples retroactively. We hope that this will
work as a strong deterrent and make athletes think twice
before cheating."
The Beijing samples will be reopened and tested in particular
for CERA, a new generation of the endurance-enhancing hormone
EPO. The substance boosts an athlete's performance by
increasing the number of oxygen-rich blood cells.
No test for CERA was available during the Beijing Games. But
a new blood test developed by the French Anti-Doping Agency
has since detected CERA in samples of Tour de France riders,
and the IOC now wants to go back and check whether it was
also used in Beijing.
"The idea is to retest across the sports, not solely on
cycling," IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said. "They will
retest for all the new substances that are currently
detectable, not only CERA."
IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch said the IOC will test
blood samples for CERA, but other tests will also be carried
out to detect new drugs which he declined to identify.
"We have indication of other substances," he said.
The IOC freezes and stores samples from the Olympics for
eight years, leaving open the possibility to retest them when
new detection methods are devised.
The IOC conducted more than 5000 drug tests during the
Beijing Games, including nearly 1000 blood screenings.
All Beijing samples are currently being sent to the Olympic
doping lab in Lausanne, Switzerland.
IOC medical officials haven't decided yet how many or which
samples will be opened for reanalysis.
"You don't do it just by random," IOC medical commission
chairman Arne Ljungqvist told the AP. "You have to base it on
some suspicion. A number of blood samples were taken in
Beijing. We will look into where we may have some suspicious
parameters. Endurance events are of particular interest."
The time frame for the testing process hasn't been finalized.
Logistics have to be worked out, including whether the tests
will be analysed in Lausanne or other labs.
"Our hope is to have this done during the coming few months,"
Ljungqvist said.
The IOC previously retested some samples from the 2002 Salt
Lake City Winter Games to look for THG, the designer steroid
at the centre of the BALCO scandal. No positives were found.
Any athletes caught by new tests can be sanctioned
retrospectively and be stripped of their results and medals.
"All undiscovered cheats will be shaking now," said Michael
Vesper, director general of the German Olympic Sports Union.
The IOC has shown increasing willingness to retroactively
punish doping cheats. US athlete Marion Jones had to return
her five medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics after she
admitted in federal court last year that she had been doping.
"Since we store the samples and have them at our disposal, we
will not hesitate in doing further analysis," Ljungqvist
said. "This is a message to people who are tempted to cheat
that there may be something coming up soon or later."
Andy Parkinson, head of operations of Drug-Free Sport in
Britain, said the initiative "sends a great message."
"Long gone are the days when an athlete gets a negative test
after a competition and disappears with the medal forever,"
he said. "Athletes who cheat are not safe even eight years
after competitions."
Officials confirmed yesterday that German rider Stefan
Schumacher and Italians Riccardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli
tested positive for CERA at the Tour de France. The three
riders combined to win five of the Tour's 21 stages.
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG, which
manufactures the drug for use by kidney patients, said it had
teamed up with the World Anti-Doping Agency since 2004 to
help catch cheats using it for sports enhancement.
"We were very pleased that this collaboration with WADA has
been productive," Roche spokeswoman Claudia Schmitt said on
Wednesday.
Michael Ashenden, the Australian-based coordinator of
research consortium Science and Industry Against Blood
Doping, helped develop the first doping test for EPO and
another for blood transfusion.
He said Thursday that he expects the IOC retesting to result
in more positives.
"It wouldn't surprise me at all if we had more athletes
caught," Ashenden said. "CERA is more easily detectable in
blood than in urine. If there are some athletes that showed
indications of it in urine, anticipate there will be even
more of it in blood."
WADA president John Fahey agreed that retesting could result
in more drug test positives.
"There's a distinct possibility that the retesting will bring
out cases that weren't otherwise thought possible to detect,"
Fahey said from his base in Sydney, Australia. "WADA believes
that this is a very strong deterrent against any athlete who
may be tempted to cheat."
The IOC disqualified six athletes for doping during the
Beijing Games - Ukrainian heptathlete Lyudmila Blonska,
Ukrainian weightlifter Igor Razoronov, Greek hurdler Fani
Halkia, North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su, Spanish cyclist
Isabel Moreno and Vietnamese gymnast Thi Ngan Thuong Do.
Three other cases are still pending. The IOC has given
Belarusian hammer throwers Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan
Tsikhan until October 17 to provide more information
explaining why they tested positive for testosterone.
A decision is due shortly in the case of Polish canoeist Adam
Seroczynski, who tested positive for clenbuterol.
In addition, dozens of athletes around the world were caught
for doping before the Olympics in pre-games tests.
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