IOC has gene doping test in place

Rio de Jnaeiro, Aug 16 (IANS) An effective gene doping test has been formulated, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said on the sidelines of the ongoing Rio Olympics.

IOC Medical and Scientific Director Richard Budgett said here on Monday the test, developed in a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited anti-doping lab in Australia, is targeted to detect Erythropoietin or EPO, a blood booster helping athletes enhance endurance, reports Tass.

"With the test you can actually tell if the EPO gene is in the wrong place. The test is approved by WADA as being effective but it is not in use yet," said Budgett.

But the new procedure, which is to identify if an athlete is artificially adjusting their DNA to enhance performance, is expected to be used to test samples from the Rio Olympics after the Games are over to see if any athletes were gene doping, Budgett said.

The IOC will store all the samples from the Olympic Games for 10 years and retest them as soon as a reliable new method is in place.

Budgett said there are already 1,400 samples from Beijing 2008 and London 2012 retested and 98 samples returned positive results.

At the Rio Games, a total of 3,188 doping tests have been conducted, including 2,701 urine tests, 191 blood tests and 296 biological passport tests, as of Sunday, according to Budgett.