SWITZERLAND/FILE: International Olympic Committee to retest all samples from Beijing games to check for new performance-enhancing drug

Record ID: 721393

  • Title: SWITZERLAND/FILE: International Olympic Committee to retest all samples from Beijing games to check for new performance-enhancing drug
  • Date: 9th October 2008
  • Summary: LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND (FILE - MARCH 29, 2005) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF URINE TESTS AT A WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY (WADA) ACCREDITED LABORATORY
  • Embargoed: 24th October 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA29FORDZ7K4V5OOK52KX0JCKLG
  • Story Text: The International Olympic Committee on Wednesday (October 8) said it would retest frozen blood samples taken from athletes during the Beijing Games in August for traces of a new generation of drug.
    The decision comes days after a string of positive cases involving the frozen samples of cyclists from the Tour de France in July.
    The IOC will especially be looking for EPO CERA, a new performance-enhancing drug that the cyclists tested positive for, it said.
    Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator is a form of EPO that has a longer lasting effect in improving the blood's oxygen delivery system.
    IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said the new test developed to trace EPO CERA was a blood test so initially only blood samples from Beijing would be retested.
    The IOC collected about 1,000 blood samples and about 4,000 urine samples during the Games in Beijing.
    Once a urine test for the substance is available the urine samples will also be tested.
    The IOC saw only a handful of positive drugs tests in Beijing after extensive efforts to crack down on doping and avoid having the Games marred by cheats.
    It implemented the biggest Olympic anti-doping testing programme to date with more than 5,000 tests during the Games and many more prior to the event, conducted on a national and international level.
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