IOC rechecking blood tests from Beijing

LONDON - Any athletes who thought they got away with doping at the Beijing Olympics shouldn't rest easy. The drug police are coming back.

The International Olympic Committee said yesterday it will retest samples from the Games to search for a new blood-boosting drug at the center of the latest Tour de France scandals.

The move reflects the IOC's aggressive attempts to nab drug cheats not just during an Olympics, but weeks, months and even years later once new tests become available. Results and medals could be at stake.

"Our message is very clear," IOC president Jacques Rogge said in a statement. "The IOC will not miss any opportunity to further analyze samples retroactively. We hope that this will work as a strong deterrent and make athletes think twice before cheating."

The Beijing samples will be reopened and tested in particular for CERA, a new generation of the endurance-enhancing hormone EPO. The substance boosts an athlete's performance by increasing the number of oxygen-rich blood cells.

No test for CERA was available during the Beijing Games. But a new blood test developed by the French Anti-Doping Agency has since detected CERA in samples of Tour de France riders, and the IOC now wants to go back and check whether it was also used in Beijing.

The IOC has shown increasing willingness to retroactively punish doping cheats. United States athlete Marion Jones had to return her five medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics after she admitted in federal court last year that she had been doping.

In the months before the Beijing Games, the IOC, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and international federations carried out a rigorous program of out-of-competiton testing to weed out drug cheats. More than 40 athletes were caught and kept out of the Games.

Past doping scandals involving track stars such as Jones raised suspicions heading into Beijing. Even 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres, who went on to win three silver medals in China, admitted beforehand that past cheating by some athletes had contributed to cynicism about the Games.

But no doping scandals involving the biggest-name Olympians emerged in Beijing, despite the suspicion and more than 5,000 drug tests by the IOC, including nearly 1,000 blood screenings.

Usain Bolt, who broke world records in winning the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400-meter relay, described the rigorous drug testing he underwent in Beijing.

"I've been tested four times [in China], before I even started running. These guys took urine tests and blood tests. After every event final, I've been tested," he said. "I've been tested out of competition so many times I lost track."

Any athletes caught by new tests can be sanctioned retrospectively and be stripped of their results and medals.

"All undiscovered cheats will be shaking now," said Michael Vesper, director general of the German Olympic Sports Union.

IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said the idea was to "retest across the sports, not solely on cycling. They will retest for all the new substances that are currently detectable, not only CERA."

IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch said the IOC will test blood samples for CERA, but other tests will also be carried out to detect new drugs that he declined to identify.

"We have indication of other substances," he said.

The IOC freezes and stores samples from the Olympics for eight years, leaving open the possibility to retest them when new detection methods are devised. All Beijing samples are being sent to the Olympic doping lab in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The time frame for the testing process hasn't been finalized. Logistics have to be worked out, including whether the tests will be analyzed in Lausanne or other labs.

"Our hope is to have this done during the coming few months," IOC medical commission chairman Arne Ljungqvist said.

The IOC previously retested some samples from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games to look for THG, the designer steroid at the center of the BALCO scandal. No positives were found.

Officials confirmed Tuesday that German rider Stefan Schumacher and Italians Riccardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli had tested positive for CERA at the Tour de France. The three riders combined to win five of the Tour's 21 stages.

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG, which manufactures the drug for use by kidney patients, said it had teamed up with the World Anti-Doping Agency since 2004 to help catch cheats using it for sports enhancement.