Here’s some dope on testing at the Games Mihir Vasavda finds out that as many as 1,706 samples — urine and blood — have gone under the microscope at a 24x7 medical facility in London

Here’s some dope on testing at the Games

Mihir Vasavda finds out that as many as 1,706 samples — urine and blood — have gone under the microscope at a 24x7 medical facility in London

It took Gagan Narang over two hours to finish his dope test after winning the bronze medal in the 10-metre air rifle event on Monday. It’s not unusual for athletes to take such a long time but for the waiting press and dignitaries, it was an awfully long wait. What was going on in there? Does it always take so long? The first five finishers in every event are tested, plus two at random. They are tested immediately afterwards, at the venue. There are dope testing labs at each venue, with volunteers and doctors conducting them. Seconds after the athlete is out of the competition hall, the athlete is whisked away by a volunteer. Inside the lab, the athlete is asked to submit either his urine or blood sample. “It’s a normal process. The problem, at times, is that athletes are generally excited (after winning a medal). So they aren’t able to provide the urine sample right away. That’s why it takes longer,” an athlete says. The organisation responsible for the anti-doping programme during the duration of the Olympics is the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The duration, in this case, is slightly longer than the competition date. The testing in London began on July 16, the day Games Village was opened. As of last Tuesday, 1,706 tests (1,344 urine and 362 blood) were conducted. The number is expected to touch 5,000, a record. Once a sample is collected, the athlete’s ‘biological passport’ is formed. It basically contains all the details regarding the athletes’ past samples — level of haemoglobin, red and white blood cells, etc. So each time an athlete gives a sample, it’s compared to his past records. “So any change in the level, whether it increases or decreases, it’s an indirect evidence to something unusual,” says Christian Bartlett, a senior analyst who has been working round the clock during the Games. The type of test that’ll be conducted on the samples varies. The endurance athletes are more likely to go for blood-boosting and aerobic capacity enhancers whereas the strength athletes are going to go for something totally opposite. “So it completely depends on where the athletes come from as to what tests we do,” Bartlett adds. The samples collected at the Games will be stored for eight years so as to enable retrospective testing when new tests for more drugs are developed. At London 2012, it’s not just the athletes who are under the scanner. The competition’s four-legged ‘Olympians’ — horses — are also being monitored. At a laboratory near London, samples of horses from all competing nations are being tested for steroids, stimulants, masking agents and painkillers. The horses’ feed is also tested for substances that might enhance performance. The samples are in a concentrated form — whether urine or a food supplement sample. It’s purified, extracted and brought into a format so that even the tiniest traces of banned substances are detected. In addition, there is random, unannounced testing, in the Olympic Village or wherever athletes are based during Games period.

Published Date:  Aug 05, 2012