Athletes descend on London, signalling the start of 'biggest ever' anti-doping campaign

Athletes from around the world have started to descend on London, signalling the start of the world's biggest ever anti-doping campaign.

Laboratories and technicians will be bracing themselves for one of the busiest summers of their lives, as the London 2012 anti-doping laboratory looks to test more athletes than ever ahead of this summer's games. Half of all athletes taking part in the London Olympic Games will be tested for drugs in what is being billed as the biggest anti-doping operation in the history of the games.

There will be a team of 150 scientists working around the clock to analyse more than 6,000 samples between now and the end of the Paralympic Games on September 9th. A lot of the testing will take place before the games even get underway, in the hope that scientists will be able to catch cheating athletes before they even get a chance to compete.
Sprinter Devonish, who won Olympic gold in the 4x100m relay at the 2004 Athens Games, said: "Winning an Olympic medal is the best feeling in the world and as an athlete it's so important to know that anyone who stands on the podium has got there through their own hard work and dedication, not by doping."

This year's laboratory is run in a coalition between GlaxoSmithKline, Locog and King's College London. The lab will be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Every competitor that steps on to the medal-winners' podium will be tested, as well as many randomised competing athletes.

Double gold medal-winning Paralympic swimmer Graham Edmunds, who was part of the winning 4x100m freestyle relay teams in Athens and Beijing, said: "Winning medals is like an addiction; once you have one, you want another.

"It's my biggest motivation. And knowing you've reached the podium because of all the hard work you've put in; nine sessions a week, two hours each session, three gym sessions a week for four years, is the greatest feeling."

Posted by Ben Evans