Beijing Olympics 2008

China has ordered all pharmaceutical plants to tag medicines that contain stimulants to prevent athletes from mistakenly using banned drugs during the Olympic Games, a drug watchdog official said here on Sunday.
Drugstores were told not to sell such medicine without tags that read “athletes cautious” on the package, said Wu Zhen, vice director the State Food and Drug Administration at a press conference on the sidelines of the parliament session.
Only approved pharmaceutical plants and wholesalers are allowed to produce and wholesale protein assimilation preparations and peptide hormones, the official said.
The Chinese law also forbids the sales of protein assimilation preparations except insulin or the sales of peptide hormones, Wu added.
The moves were aimed at a fair and clean environment for the Games, Wu noted.
A catalog of drugs needed during the Olympic Games has been compiled.
China is resolute against doping and the Beijing Olympics will feature the largest number of doping tests in the history of the Games, according to officials with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG).
Anti-doping requirements have been issued to all participating athletes at the Beijing Games, officials said.

from: chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2008-03/16/content_6540272.htm

British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman Colin Moynihan said on Wednesday he would oppose any attempt by sprinter Dwain Chambers to compete at the Beijing Games.
Chambers, 29, who has returned to competition after serving a two-year doping suspension, is considering a legal challenge to the BOA’s lifetime Olympic ban for any athlete failing a drugs test.

“There will be no room for cheats in the British team as long as I am involved with the BOA,” Moynihan told the BBC.

“There are absolutely no grounds whatsoever for compromise.”

Chambers won a silver medal in the 60 metres at the world indoor championships this month but his future is uncertain after leading European promoters said he would not be welcome at their meetings.

from: chinadaily.com.cn 

The Beijing Olympics scheduled for August this year here would feature the largest number of dope tests in the history of the Games, a top official of the organizing committee said.
“China is resolute against doping and would use hi-tech measures as part of anti-doping efforts“, Jiang Xiaoyu, Vice-President of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) said.
Firming the idea further, Cui Dalin, Deputy Director of the State General Administration of Sport, said that China had imposed anti-doping requirements on all the participating athletes and initiated steps to prevent them from mistakenly using banned drugs.
“As far as the Chinese teams are concerned, we would rather lose gold medals than dope,” Cui added.
The officials, both members of Chinas top political advisory body, the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, which is currently holding its annual session here, were quoted as saying official Xinhua news agency.
Meanwhile, Liu Jingmin, Vice-Mayor of Beijing and Executive Vice-President of the BOCOG, responding to political issues being linked with the Games said, “The world is vast with different voices, but we must carry on preparations for the Olympic Games as scheduled.” Cui said criticism would not dampen Chinas enthusiasm and added, “The more problems we find out now, the better the Olympic Games would be“.
Commenting on political issues surrounding games, Jiang said, “As International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said, the Games is solely a sporting gala that shouldn’t be linked with politics.”

from: ndtv.com 

British researchers have developed a new, highly sensitive, anti-doping steroid test technique using hydropyrolysis, a technique that has previously been used for oil exploration.
Researchers at the University of Nottingham has refined the hydropyrolysis technique which uses high pressure environments to investigate the chemical structure and make-up of a sample to develop highly accurate tests for detecting levels of illicit steroids in the urine of athletes, according to a press release on Wednesday by the university.
The test procedure is already in the process of being commercialized and is expected to be ready for use in the 2012 Olympics, it said.
High pressure hydrogen is used to bombard the sample at pressures of 150 atmospheres and temperatures of up to 500 degrees Celsius, leaving sample molecules in a cleaner, less degraded state than other extraction techniques, thus allowing more accurate readings to be taken, according to the researchers.
Carbon isotopes are then measured, with the results showing the ratios of carbon 12 and carbon 13 in the sample whether geochemical or biological, Colin Snape, Professor of Chemical Technology and Chemical Engineering at the University, said.
“Steroids are produced naturally in the body, but they have a different ratio between carbon 13 and carbon 12 to those that have been introduced illicitly. By refining the measurements of these two isotopes we can produce a very accurate test for the presence of illegal steroids in athletes,” he said.
“We are currently working with the World Anti-Doping Agency ( WADA) to develop the technique for trial and have entered into partnership with Strata Technology, a London-based company with expertise in high pressure equipment, to commercialize the technique,” Snape said.
The technique is also being used to refine current radio carbon dating processes, which use the carbon 14 isotope to measure the age of an archaeological sample.

from: chinadaily.com.cn

The Presidents of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, and of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the Hon. John Fahey, met today at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, to discuss cooperation between the two organizations and enhanced strategies in the fight against doping in sport. This was the first official meeting between the two leaders since the commencement of Mr Fahey’s term as WADA President on 1 January 2008. The meeting took place in the presence of the Presidents of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) and of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) as well as the Chairmen of the IOC Athletes’ and Medical Commissions.
“The IOC has been wholeheartedly supporting WADA and will continue to do so in the future. Mr Fahey can count on the total commitment of the Olympic Movement in the fight against doping,” said the IOC President. “WADA has come a long way with the establishment of the WADA Anti-Doping Code, for example, but challenges remain. Efforts are still needed to allow the full implementation of the Code by the Olympic Movement by 1 January 2009 and the adhesion by governments to the UNESCO Convention. I am confident that Mr Fahey will significantly help to move things forward”, he continued.
“The IOC itself continues to enforce its zero-tolerance policy against doping through a comprehensive program of testing during each edition of the Olympic Games — 4,500 in- and out-of-competition tests will be carried out next summer in Beijing — by calling upon the cooperation of governments, by imposing financial penalties on NOCs and athletes, and by denying participation in the next Olympic Games for athletes and their entourage who have been sanctioned for more than six months”, Rogge added.
“The IOC President and I had a very productive meeting that focused on the next steps to be taken to further strengthen the fight against doping in sport,” said the WADA President. “The IOC was instrumental in WADA’s inception in 1999 and, under President Rogge’s leadership, has always shown tremendous support to WADA and an unwavering commitment to the fight against doping in sport. President Rogge assured me of his full and continued support to WADA’s work.”
“WADA is a unique partnership between the sports movement and governments of the world,” continued Fahey. “As the first government representative to serve at the helm of WADA, it is important for me to meet with the leader of the Olympic Movement to discuss several areas in which the fight against doping can be advanced. For one, I will be focusing much attention on maximizing the role of governments for enhanced cooperation and sharing of information between governmental and law enforcement agencies and sports authorities. High-profile doping cases and investigations underscore the fact that no sport and no country are immune to the threat of doping, as well as the critical need for strong collaborative sport-government efforts in confronting doping.”
WADA is funded by and composed in equal parts of the Olympic Movement and governments of the world. Under the Agency’s Statutes, the WADA Presidency and Vice-Presidency alternate between the sports movement and governments.

source: beijing2008.cn