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Monday 03, Aug 2009

  Scientists race to stay ahead of Olympic Doping

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Scientists race to stay ahead of Olympic DopingAccording to a major four-decade review by three of the World’s leading experts on doping in sport, scientists are trying their level best to stop steroid or drug-taking athletes to use performance enhancing drugs or undergo genetic manipulation.

According to Professor Don Catlin, Founder and former Director of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory at the University of California, USA, and CEO of the Anti-Doping Research Institute, one of the cardinal features of doping is that some athletes may experiment with new substances to enhance performance.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Remarkable advances have been made over the last 40 years which have allowed sports authorities to identify and sanction athletes who have misused a wide range of drugs, most of which were developed to treat diseases” says Professor Ljungqvist. “More recently drugs have been produced and used to specifically enhance athletic performance and avoid detection.

“At the same time strict regulations have been developed to ensure that athletes with a proven clinical need can still receive the prescription drugs they need without fear of sanctions.”

“This major review by Professors Catlin, Ljungqvist and Fitch provides a concise description of the history of drug testing for the Olympic Games, with fascinating details on the evolution of laboratory equipment and analytical strategies” says Dr Thomas H Murray, President and CEO of The Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute based in New York.

“It identifies failings of the overall anti-doping system - most of them out of the laboratories control - and describes a number of challenges to be confronted.

“And it also shows us that there are five elements that are necessary for a successful anti-doping programme. These are: a strong commitment to - and sufficient funding for - research, a smart sampling strategy, adequate analytical capacity, a trustworthy adjudication process and a solid foundation of clear principles and transparent process.”

Catlin further said that there is need to develop tests before news of a new drug or steroid misused by athletes for enhancing performance is heard by them.

Monday 01, Dec 2008

  IOC will implement retroactive dope screening for Beijing samples until 2016

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Beijing-2008-Summer-Olympics-SteroidsOne 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.