World Cup players to face test for THG
Players at the Rugby World Cup will be tested for the newly discovered ’designer drug’ tetrahdyrogestinone from the beginning of next week.
The athletics world has been rocked by revelations that some of the sport’s leading names have tested positive to the anabolic steroid known as THG.
While rugby union has a relatively clean record for drug offences, the International Rugby Board have taken their doping procedures extremely seriously at this World Cup.
All sides have been subject to random out of competition testing over the last 10 months and random samples will be taken from players of all 20 sides contesting the World Cup.
But testing for THG was not in the original plan, as it has only just been discovered after the steroid was altered by unscrupulous scientists in a bid to avoid detection.
While the IAAF plan to retest samples taken in the World Championships, the Australian Sports Drug Agency (ASDA), carrying out the World Cup testing, will also have leeway to reanalyse old samples.
The tournament organisers announced in a statement today: “Testing for the anabolic steroid tetrahdyrogestinone (THG) will begin early next week as new laboratory procedures and methods developed to analyse the the drug are currently being put in place by the IOC/WADA Accredited Laboratory.
“The test will be applied to all new samples collected and may extend to samples already collected as part of the RWC2003 Anti Doping Programme.
"The new test was originally developed by the IOC/WADA Accredited Laboratory in Los Angeles, and has now been approved and distributed to all IOC/WADA Accredited Laboratories for implementation globally.”