One Times Online article labeled International Olympic president Jacques Rogge as a “deluded individual” when Rogge expressed his displeasure of Usain Bolt’s celebration of his victory at Beijing. Usain earned Rogge’s rebuke when the Jamaican sprinter failed to shake hands with his co-competitors after his impressive win at the 100 meters.

However, Rogge’s recent interview with the BBC’s Inside Sport, as related by AFP, portrayed a very pragmatic man. The IOC president said those who aspire for a 100 percent drug-free Olympics were out of touch with reality. He added cheating will always be part of human nature.

“I think one has to be realistic,” Rogge said.

“Drug-free sport in general is Utopia. It will be naive to believe that no-one will take drugs.

“There are about 400 million people practicing sport on this globe, there are not 400 million saints on earth.

“Cheating is embedded in human nature and doping is to sport what criminality is to society.

“You will always need cops and judges and prisons and jails and rules and regulations.”

IOC is planning to catch more users of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancers as it’s currently implementing re-testing of the samples taken at the Beijing Olympics. The IOC head “expects further positive doping cases to emerge from these” up to 2016 Games.

Rogge said all the samples they obtained from Beijing – more than 5,000 screenings, including nearly 1,000 blood samples – will be available for retroactive testing. The blood samples will be screened for new generation performance-enhancing drugs CERA and insulin. And if new testing techniques will emerge between now and 2016, the same samples will go through re-testing.

“We are keeping the samples for eight years and we are going to re-test them,” said Rogge.

“And ultimately the judgment on the Beijing Games will be given in eight years’ time, because each time a new scientific test is coming up we are going to re-test.”

Rogge assumed the IOC position on July 2001, replacing Juan Antonio Samaranch. Rogge has his share of criticisms and the most recent of these were his disapproval of Bolt’s behavior (mentioned above) and his statement regarding Greek athletes. He allegedly stated that “Greece won the gold medal in doping” because of a spate of failed dope tests of Greek athletes.

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Max Jaben, member of the Israeli swimming team, has been penalized with a one-year suspension due to a failed dope test.

The 23-year-old Jaben qualified to represent Israel in the Olympics but missed the chance to swim in Beijing when he tested positive for the anabolic steroid boldenone (commonly sold under the trade name Equipoise) in his two samples. In his “A” sample, taken on April, traces of boldenone were detected. His “B” sample was likewise found to contain the prohibited compound.

The Israeli Swimming Association could have imposed a two-year suspension but opted for only a year since it’s Jaben’s first offense and he already missed the Olympics, said Yaron Michaeli, spokesperson for ISA.

Jaben grew up in Kansas City and attended the University of Florida for two years before transferring to the University of Missouri. He became a member of the swim teams of both universities.

Jaben attempted to make it to the United States Olympic swim team but failed on two occasions. He then made aliyah to Israel.

When interviewed after the announcement of his disqualification from Beijing Olympics, Jaben stated his disappointment.

“I felt like a plane crashed. I went from being atop the world. As of right now, it’s all gone,” said Jaben. “It’s a horrible feeling, something that I’ve never imagined feeling…

“As a sportsman, this is the lowest low that you can go.”

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As they say, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.

This seems to be the case with the anti-doping testing at the 2008 Olympics. Although the international games have already commenced and concluded in August, there are still tests being carried out by the International Olympic Committee to determine who among the participants in Beijing had used the third generation blood booster known as CERA, or continuous erythropoiesis receptor activator.

IOC president Jacques Rogge himself confirmed that the number of doping cases in this year’s Olympics is expected to climb.

“There were 39 cases before the Olympics, while there were eight cases during the Olympics and seven cases are still in the pipeline, so there could be 15 cases in total,” Rogge told Austrian news agency APA.

“But we are going ahead very carefully. I expect results in four to six weeks.”

The IOC has been implementing strict anti-doping policy to deter athletes from using anabolic steroids and other prohibited compounds. Rogge, however, emphasizes a lifetime ban for first time offenders is too harsh.

“No court in the world would approve that. Any athlete would win a civil court,” he said.
“I think doping with anabolic steroids and EPO should be followed by a four-year ban.

“But first-time offenders can’t be banned for life. Criminals are also not shot the first time they are caught.”

During the 2008 Beijing Olympics more than 5000 urine samples have been taken, including more than 1,000 blood samples.

Testing for CERA is found to be more accurate when using blood samples.

The IOC had announced in October that they are going to retest blood samples taken from the participants in Beijing. The announcement came after the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) has developed a new method to effectively test for CERA. AFLD had also implemented retroactive testing for the 2008 Tour de France blood samples.

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A big “OOOPS” from the anti-doping officials.

The 300 or so test results, which had initially been reported missing by a team of independent observers during their recent visit in Beijing, have been traced by the International Olympic Committee. All tested negative for prohibited compounds.

According to the AP report, the team of 10 observers had been tasked by the World Anti-Doping Agency to review the Beijing Olympics drug-testing program.  The missing test results had been included in the team’s final report to WADA.

“Once the laboratory had apparently delivered all reports to the IO (independent observer) team, it transpired that around 300 test results were missing in comparison to the doping control forms,” the WADA report said.

“Regarding the ‘300 missing tests,’ it is our understanding that there has been a communication problem between the Beijing laboratory and the IO team on the results of a number of tests,” IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said in an e-mail. “The results of these tests were communicated to the IOC by the end of August. All were negative. The results have now been transmitted to the IO team.”

Apparently, the team conferred with the IOC’s medical commission regarding said results’ status, but IOC was unable to finish processing of the lab results in time for the group’s completion of their final report last month.

The procedural lapse had put the credibility of the anti-doping program in the Beijing Olympics. Additionally, the team reported another significant loophole in IOC’s control doping process at the Beijing Olympics.  It was found out that 102 of the 205 participating countries failed to provide sports officials with whereabouts information regarding their athletes. Such information is needed to implement pre-Games and out-of-competition testing.

It was not all negative points for the IOC however. The WADA group gave their thumbs up to the increased number of overall tests (4,770), blood tests (969) and tests for EPO (817) and human growth hormone (471). The 2008 Olympics implemented the largest drug-testing program in the history of the Olympics.

Six athletes were thrown out for doping violations during the Olympics, and three other cases are still pending.

The most controversial case of doping at Beijing has been Fani Halkia, the Greek hurdler who won the gold at the at the women’s 400m hurdles at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. On August 16 at the Beijing Olympics, Halkia tested positive for the anabolic steroidss methytrienolone.

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