Better intelligence will boost the fight against doping

Better intelligence and insider tip-offs will be key to the fight against doping in sport, including cycling, the UK Anti-Doping Agency has said.

At a seminar this week, UK Anti-Doping chief executive Andy Parkinson said the agency was focusing more and more on intelligence.

"There's a whole lot of information out there that we get on a day-to-day basis," he said.

Mr Parkinson credited a combination of intelligence, targeting and co-operation with sports scientists for helping secure the first positive test for Human Growth Hormone (HGH).

British rugby league player Terry Newton admitted taking HGH this week and has been banned for two years after a positive blood test.

Synthetic HGH, an anabolic hormone which also occurs naturally in the body, has been on the International Olympic Committee banned list since 1989. A blood test was introduced at the 2004 Athens Olympics but, because the substance disappears from the body quickly and there are a limited number of tests worldwide, there had been no positive test prior to Newton's.

According to Reuters, the decision by the independent Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that admissions of drug use, the so-called non-analytical positives, are equivalent to positive tests, was a breakthrough for anti-doping campaigners.

CAS imposed a two-year ban on former world 100 metres champion Tim Montgomery for his involvement in the BALCO laboratory scandal. Montgomery's former partner, triple Olympic champion Marion Jones was also banned for two years after admitting using drugs supplied by the laboratory and sentenced to six months' jail for perjury.

"It's critically important to use the information that's out there. Cracking the conspiracy like BALCO, sophisticated doping like Floyd Landis was doing... like Justin Gatlin was doing," U.S. Anti-Doping Agency head Travis Tygart said.

Cyclist Landis and Athens 100 metresz champion Gatlin both tested positive for drugs.

Potential whistle blowers will also be encouraged by new World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules which provide for increased reductions in sanctions for athletes guilty of doping offences if they give "substantial assistance" to the anti-doping authorities.

"Cycling has a deeply entrenched culture of cheating," said Pat McQuaid, president of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

For this reason, the UCI has pioneered biological passports, an electronic record of a rider's complete history of blood and urine tests. Any suspicious variations are examined by at least three doping experts who, if they all agree, have the authority to sign a statement asserting the profile provides convincing evidence of use of a prohibited method.

"It's not a panacea," McQuaid said. "It's not going to completely clean up the whole sports world. But it is a very strong element in the armoury of the fight against doping.

"There's a small number of cases that we have informed riders now within the WADA code that there's a potential anti-doping rule violation based on the passport."