International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge says the retroactive tests will work as a strong deterrent and make athletes think twice before cheating. - File

LONDON (AP)

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 (IOC) said yesterday it will retest samples from the games to search for a new blood-boosting drug at the centre 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 analyse 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.

CERA tests

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 idea is to retest across the sports, not solely on cycling," IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said. "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, which 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.

The IOC conducted more than 5,000 drug tests during the Beijing Games, including nearly 1,000 blood screenings.

All Beijing samples are currently being sent to the Olympic doping lab in Lausanne, Switzerland.

IOC medical officials haven't decided yet how many or which samples will be opened for reanalysis.

"You don't do it just by random," IOC medical commission chairman Arne Ljungqvist told the AP. "You have to base it on some suspicion. A number of blood samples were taken in Beijing. We will look into where we may have some suspicious parameters. Endurance events are of particular interest."

Sanctioned

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

"Our hope is to have this done during the coming few months," Ljungqvist said.

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.

The IOC has shown increasing willingness to retroactively punish doping cheats. US 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.

"Since we store the samples and have them at our disposal, we will not hesitate in doing further analysis," Ljungqvist said. "This is a message to people who are tempted to cheat that there may be something coming up soon or later."

Andy Parkinson, head of operations of Drug-Free Sport in Britain, said the initiative "sends a great message."

"Long gone are the days when an athlete gets a negative test after a competition and disappears with the medal forever," he said. "Athletes who cheat are not safe even eight years after competitions."