Dope Tests to Rise to 4150 at Athens Olympics
A total of 4,150 Doping tests will be conducted during the ATHENS 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Initial tests will be conducted during the 39 Sports Events in August 2004. During the Sports Events it is estimated that 500-600 urine tests will be carried out.
These were the data presented by ATHENS 2004 Managing Director Ioannis Spanudakis, during his speech at the Zappeion Hall at the conference of the Regional Dublin Team, an informal international advisory organisation for drug use.
Mr I. Spanudakis referred to the current scourge of doping, going back to the very first reports that were officially made at the 1904 St Louis and 1908 London Olympic Games where a mixture of strychnine and cognac was traced in marathon runners. The tragic incident of the death of the 23-year-old Danish cyclist Knud Jensen during the 100 kilometers race in Rome in 1960 followed. The reputation of cycling was tarnished, and the IOC was sensitised and motivated to urge Doping tests. In 1968 these tests were further extended, but included only certain categories of prohibited substances, such as stimulants, painkillers etc.
The ATHENS Managing Director stressed that as Doping Tests develop new substances are being devised (e.g. rEPO, epoetin -a drug that is being manufactured synthetically for medical purposes). From the beginning of the 1990’s the IOC included these substances among the prohibited ones, but their systematic testing began in 2002, during the Salt Lake City Olympic Games (in Sydney, the EPO control was a pilot programme).
'We promised the international community that we will organise clean Olympic Games', stressed Mr I. Spanudakis 'and this is what our perfect equipment and the programme of systematic tests aim to do'.
Out of 3,000 tests that have been scheduled, 500-600 will be carried out on non-competition athletes, while the EPO tests will be carried out on athletes that will participate in endurance sports.
Furthermore, a total of 650 urine tests are scheduled for Paralympic athletes, 100 of which will be for non-competition athletes.
During the Doping tests 566 people will be employed including 47 doctors, 75 technical officials, 50 technicians of laboratory analysis and 10 personnel taking the blood samples and 10 blood analysts etc.
The Doping control central building is now under construction at the OAKA Stadium, while the tender is in progress for the procurement and installation of the equipment which will make it the most advanced laboratory of its kind in Europe and one of the best in the world.
For more details contact:
ATHOC
International Media Desk
T: +30 1 2004 002
F: +30 1 2004 003
E: mediadesk@athens2004.gr
These were the data presented by ATHENS 2004 Managing Director Ioannis Spanudakis, during his speech at the Zappeion Hall at the conference of the Regional Dublin Team, an informal international advisory organisation for drug use.
Mr I. Spanudakis referred to the current scourge of doping, going back to the very first reports that were officially made at the 1904 St Louis and 1908 London Olympic Games where a mixture of strychnine and cognac was traced in marathon runners. The tragic incident of the death of the 23-year-old Danish cyclist Knud Jensen during the 100 kilometers race in Rome in 1960 followed. The reputation of cycling was tarnished, and the IOC was sensitised and motivated to urge Doping tests. In 1968 these tests were further extended, but included only certain categories of prohibited substances, such as stimulants, painkillers etc.
The ATHENS Managing Director stressed that as Doping Tests develop new substances are being devised (e.g. rEPO, epoetin -a drug that is being manufactured synthetically for medical purposes). From the beginning of the 1990’s the IOC included these substances among the prohibited ones, but their systematic testing began in 2002, during the Salt Lake City Olympic Games (in Sydney, the EPO control was a pilot programme).
'We promised the international community that we will organise clean Olympic Games', stressed Mr I. Spanudakis 'and this is what our perfect equipment and the programme of systematic tests aim to do'.
Out of 3,000 tests that have been scheduled, 500-600 will be carried out on non-competition athletes, while the EPO tests will be carried out on athletes that will participate in endurance sports.
Furthermore, a total of 650 urine tests are scheduled for Paralympic athletes, 100 of which will be for non-competition athletes.
During the Doping tests 566 people will be employed including 47 doctors, 75 technical officials, 50 technicians of laboratory analysis and 10 personnel taking the blood samples and 10 blood analysts etc.
The Doping control central building is now under construction at the OAKA Stadium, while the tender is in progress for the procurement and installation of the equipment which will make it the most advanced laboratory of its kind in Europe and one of the best in the world.
For more details contact:
ATHOC
International Media Desk
T: +30 1 2004 002
F: +30 1 2004 003
E: mediadesk@athens2004.gr