Sunday, August 17, 2008

Chinese official rules out insufficient doping tests for recordbreakers

Doping tests of sampled athletes participating in different events at the Beijing Olympic Games have been carried out according to standard procedures, a Chinese official said on Sunday.

Chen Zhiyu, head of the anti-doping department under the Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games, told a press conference here in response to a question whether the testing department is mulling to introduce new technologies or include new substances in doping tests after stunning world records in the swimming and the men's 100m.

"We make no exceptions to any particular event when it comes to doping tests," Chen said.

He also said all medalists are subject to doping tests.

Beijing's swimming venue, Water Cube, has witnessed 22 new swimming world records by Saturday.

In the men's 100m competition on Saturday night Usain Bolt from Jamaica finished the distance in 9.69 seconds, a new world record.

"Testing plans are tailored to different competition and vary according to the unique characteristics of each event, and are based on the anti-doping rules of the International Olympic Committee ," he said.

Anti-doping checkpoints are responsible for collecting samples according to IOC rules, and hand over the samples for processing at labs, he added.

"The results will be decided and announced by the IOC officials, and staff at checkpoints are not allowed to analyse or make judgment on the performances of athletes."

The IOC said on Friday it had completed more than 2,200 doping tests, including pre-competition tests. Three doping cheats were caught in the eight days after the Games started.

A total of 4,500 doping tests are scheduled for the Beijing Games.

Chen said the labs in Beijing are capable of testing all the banned substances listed by the world's anti-doping agencies, but success has to depend on many factors, including the timing of testing.

The doping samples would be preserved for eight years, compared to previous Games, available for inspection at any time in that period, he added.

He also explained time needed for results to come out are varied, depending on the process time for different substances and the time for IOC procedures.

Source: Xinhua

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