New illegal drugs available in runup to Games

LONDON (Reuters) - During an informative and entertaining address to an anti-doping conference last month, German researcher Mario Thevis referred to "80, 90, 100" new performance-enhancing drugs for which no tests yet exist.

"They act like EPO (erythropietin) but they are structurally different and that means the current EPO tests will not pick them up," he told delegates to the conference in London convened by worldsportslawreport.

Thevis added that "according to anecdotal evidence and rumors" the drugs, which replicate EPO's blood-boosting qualities, were already used in elite sports.

EPO stimulates the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells. This increases the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, allowing muscles to perform for longer.

News that up to 100 new drugs could be available in the runup to this year's London Olympics will astonish only the naive.

"It doesn't surprise me," responded World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) director-general David Howman. "We are in the area where we are into third and fourth generations and they continue to climb. Whether they are detectable or not depends on the ability of the individual laboratory."

One in two competitors will be tested during the London Games, including all medalists, and the estimated 400 daily tests are higher than any previous Olympics.

The problem will not be at the Games themselves, running from July 27-August 12, but the months before in the eternal cat-and-mouse game between the dope cheats and the testers.

"In terms of the program that is in place for the Olympic Games, I think it is very good," Howman said in a telephone interview with Reuters from WADA's Montreal headquarters.

"The International Olympic Committee have got probably the most extensive program they could possibly operate. From the day that athletes come into the opening of the village to the closing ceremony, that's good.

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New illegal drugs available in runup to Games