'A few' positive tests is the right amount for an anti-doping campaign

Collecting 'a few' positive tests is the right amount for an anti-doping campaign, according to Bonnie D. Ford of ESPN, who believes none sounds like the system is rigged, and a lot represent backsliding rather than progress.

Her comments come as anti-doping laboratories brace themselves to receive up to 6,000 samples from Olympians and Paraolympians this summer, in the third summer games and fifth overall since the World Anti-Doping Agency code went into effect in 2004.

This year there will be new processes and techniques deployed to catch any cheating athletes, but the WDA will be restrained in their proclemations of how much cleaner these games will be compared to Beijing or Athens.

David Howman and president John Fahey confirmed in a recent news conference that there will be a new blood test for HGV in London, which will be deployed alongside the old one. There will also be a new blood test for human growth hormone known as the biomarker method, which was approved only weeks before the games were set to commence.

The new test has roused much interest among experts, who believe it may solve one of their most vexing issues of the past decade. It takes only hours to confirm detection, much faster than its predecessor which could take weeks.

HGH has become one of the most widely used performance-enhancing drugs across sports, but only a handful of actual positive tests have shown up because of how quickly the synthetic version becomes indistinguishable from the form naturally produced by the body. The new test could change that all here in London, which could potentially expose large numbers of athletes.

Mr Howman said the test represents a significant milestone. Adding: "Every milestone is significant if it ends up in catching someone who is getting away with cheating with impunity. I wouldn't want to rate any one of them above another."

Posted by Neil Clark