Re-testing programme warning for drug cheats

THE Irish Sports Council’s anti-doping programme manager, Dr Una May, has warned drugs cheats will be hunted down and punished through more sophisticated testing and profiling technology.

The Sports Council published its annual anti-doping report yesterday on a day it was confirmed that six samples taken and stored after the Beijing Olympics had proved positive for the new form of EPO named MIRCERA when they were re-analysed. The IAAF confirmed it had been advised by the International Olympic Committee that three athletes had returned positive tests and a cyclist was also named among newly failed samples.

“They might think they are beating the system,” said Dr May. “But the fact that the samples are being saved and stored until better tests come out means there is a real sign it is not as safe as they thought and those who would have thought they got away with it in Beijing are being picked up.