London 2012 organizers will be using state-of-the-art drug testing facilities to ensure drug cheats don’t evade detection.
A team of more than 150 scientists will operate 24 hours a day during the Games in GlaxoSmithKline laboratories located 22 miles from the Olympic Stadium.
Team leader Professor David Cowan of King’s College warned: “When people try to challenge they won’t be successful. We’ll be fast, sensitive, efficient and right.”
The laboratories will be as huge as seven tennis courts, and over 6,250 samples will be analyzed for more than 200 illicit compounds. There will be 10,500 athletes, but some will undergo drug testing more than once since all medalists will be tested. Drug testing will also target high-risk areas.
Paul Deighton, chief executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, said: “It is risk-adjusted, targeted at where we’re more likely to be successful.”
If an athlete tests positive, he will have the right to another test, using a B-sample taken at the same time. This test will be conducted in the presence of their legal representatives. International Olympic Committee protocols dictate that the B-sample must be stored for eight years for retesting in case new substances are uncovered or new tests become available.
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