Doha: A World Anti Doping Agency (Wada) official has warned cheating athletes that performance-enhancing substances would easily be traced down through advanced detection methods.
“The fight against doping is a constant battle. Athletes who cheat by using doping substances must understand that just because they may get away with it one day, there is a very good chance that they will be caught in the future,” Dr Robin Olivier (pictured), Science Director at Wada, said yesterday.
“The re-testing and subsequent decisions of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are proof of that,” Dr Olivier said while speaking to journalists after the inauguration of the anti-doping laboratory in Qatar.
The Wada official said re-testing is an important tool in doping and should serve as a strong deterrent for athletes who aim for fame using dubious methods.
“The whole rationale behind storing samples is that they can be tested again at a later date, using new and more effective detection methods that may not have been available when the samples were taken. Science makes progress every day and we need to bring in new techniques to anti-doping methods,” Dr Olivier explained.
“Re-testing of old samples will reveal more doping cases, but we need to be selective from the large samples which we need to reanalyze and we need to go by intelligence inputs,” he added.
IOC recently stripped four athletes of their medals after samples taken at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens were reanalyzed earlier this year.
Olivier said Wada is trying to keep pace with new scientific development and integrating them in anti-doping methods.
“We see the developmental science in everyday life for the good of humanity, and some doping cases for some personal objectives and sports objectives. Science is delivering high quality. We need to continue to deliver high quality, and integrate new science every day in anti-doping programmes.
“Research is very important part of the fight against doping and I am pleased Qatar is having a research programme, which is one of the important component of anti-doping,” Olivier added.
The Wada official said admitted that there were some critical issues leading to the non-detection of cyclist Lance Armstrong case, which he did not wish to discuss with the press, but added two other cyclists were caught because of the anti-doping effort.
“Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis (both cyclists), the two athletes, tested positive before the Lance Armstrong case due to Wada’s anti-doping efforts,” Dr Olivier added.The peninsula
