DAEGU ― Almost 1,700 athletes among the some 1,900 participants at the World Championships in Athletics in Daegu have been blood-tested in an unprecedented anti-doping program, said the medical chief from the sports governing body.

The Daegu Worlds is the first event to have endorsed the largest anti-doping program ever conducted by the International Association of Athletics Federations, with blood samples from every athlete to be tested under the same conditions during the nine-day competition. 

So far, no one had tested positive, IAAF medical and anti-doping director Gabriel Dolle told The Korea Herald.

Sitting at the doping control room located in the basement of Daegu Stadium, however, the French official noted that the tests are still in progress and he cannot guarantee that the Daegu Worlds will be a doping-free competition.

“Doping is a reality, athletes who cheat exist,” he said.

Each year the IAAF finds between 120 and 140 positive cases in athletics, and this is, in fact the tip of the iceberg, said Dolle.

“It’s a reality, and it’s probably less than the ‘real’ reality.”

In order to root out doping attempts and cheaters, the athletics body has launched an ambitious program at the Daegu championships: testing blood samples of all athletes participating in the Daegu Worlds.

“This is a new step into anti-doping control,” said Dolle, who has been working for the IAAF for 18 years.

Blood samples have been taken from the athletes at the doping control station located in the athlete’s village. And the collected samples are tested on-site first and then being sent a laboratory in Lausanne for further tests.

The results, he said, will be used to build “biological passports,” for each athlete which can be used to check the possibility of testing for blood-booster erythropoietin, or EPO, one of the common substances used by athletes and also various types of drugs, including steroids.

Also some athletes, mostly mid-and-long distance runners, transfuse their own blood before the race in order to boost oxygen levels in their body, but once the blood passports are all collected the authority can track it down, he added.

During the Daegu Worlds, some athletes will have their blood sample taken more than once.

“We know that some disciplines in athletics have some special calendar where they use doping in precise period, so we’ll multiply our test in and out of the competition,” Dolle said.

Asked whether the blood passport can guarantee doping-free competitions, the French official said: “In society the police cannot catch all cheaters, and it’s the same comparison in our sport.”

“I know that we certainly cannot detect all doping athletes, but it’s important that they at least know we try to control it,” he added.

The IAAF is trying to have a coherent, good structured and realistic anti-doping program to try to keep the sports as clean as possible. “What is more important than what we do is education,” he added.

The IAAF anti-doping commissioner noted that education is also import part of its anti-doping program.

At Daegu, the IAAF has been providing anti-doping educational program in athletes’ village and also giving away 2,000 CDs containing its program.

“We’ll not win the fight against doping, but we’ll certainly have good control,” he said.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)