Wednesday, March 26, 2008

All British athletes to be tested before Olympics - Wednesday March 26, 2008 12:26PM

Wonder if this was a 'no bid contract?' The bill has to be heavy.
SI.com - More Sports - All British athletes to be tested before Olympics - Wednesday March 26, 2008 12:26PM Every British athlete going to the Beijing Olympics will be drug tested at least once in the run-up to this summer's games.

UK Sport announced plans Wednesday for the country's most comprehensive pre-Olympic testing program, with more than 1,500 tests set to be administered on the athletes competing at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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Anonymous said...

British athletes tested before Oly
More than 1,500 doping tests to be administered
Posted: Wednesday March 26, 2008 12:26PM; Updated: Wednesday March 26, 2008 1:52PM
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LONDON (AP) -- Every British athlete going to the Beijing Olympics will be drug tested at least once in the run-up to this summer's games.

UK Sport announced plans Wednesday for the country's most comprehensive pre-Olympic testing program, with more than 1,500 tests set to be administered on the athletes competing at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The program started on Jan. 1 and will last until the opening of the Olympic village in Beijing on July 27, 12 days before the opening ceremony.

From July 27, the World Anti-Doping Agency will supervise tests on all athletes in conjunction with the Chinese organizing committee. About 4,500 doping tests will be carried out during the Aug. 8-24 games in line with the International Olympic Committee's zero-tolerance policy.

"Tests will be planned using our intelligence based testing approach which focuses the allocation of tests around where they have a maximum impact in terms of detection and deterrence," said John Scott, director of drug-free sport for Britain's national anti-doping organization.

"Obviously those in high-risk sports or disciplines can and will be tested more often. There is no limit to the number of times we might test an individual athlete."

Scott wants sprinter Dwain Chambers, who served a two-year ban for using the steroid THG, to help UK Sport coordinate and target its testing by giving full details of his former doping practices.

Chambers won a silver medal in the 60 meters at the recent World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain, but is ineligible for the Beijing Games because of Britain's lifetime Olympic ban on doping offenders.

"We certainly don't know who else was also in the know, whether there are people still in the system he worked with who have not been removed from that system," Scott said. "We don't know enough about the regime he pursued.

"We can offer Dwain a chance to help improve the system and stop people making the mistake he made, which if he is truly contrite then surely that is something he would want to do. "