300 missing drug tests from Beijing!

[deanouk]

A friend of mine sent me this link from New Zealand which I thought very interesting and may be of interest to others on here. It looks like 300 drug test results went missing from Beiijing, as reported by the independent drug testing observers who attended the Games.
It was also reported to the IOC by the independent team that the Drug laboratory in China "failed to detect one of the quality control samples that contained a prohibited substance".
Can we really maintain that all is well in the sport (indeed sports) and that corruption at the highest levels does not exist?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4729192a1823.html

[Smoke]

they found the test results

[richxx87]

Associated Press
Updated: October 16, 2008, 4:15 PM ET
LONDON -- The results of 300 doping tests from the Beijing Games -- reported as "missing" by independent observers -- have been traced by the International Olympic Committee. All were negative.

The observer team of the World Anti-Doping Agency reported the missing results in its final report on the Beijing drug-testing program.

Despite this more recent news, it is terribly suspicious that Beijing would be so shoddy with something so important -- something that is part and parcel of the very integrity of the Games. If they were so capable of getting close to perfection in everything else, one certainly has to wonder how these sorts of blunders could've occurred -- hundreds of missing tests and labs that couldn't/didn't test for certain substances?

[Mennisco]

they found the test results

Is there a story here?

[deanouk]

Yes I think there is!
According to "The Independent "on the 17th, the results have now been traced, but it is still worrying that so many could go missing in the first place. What is even more startling is the fact that the Independent observers (from WADA)showed genuine concern for;

"a "relatively low" number of athletes tested for the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO) and the failure of "nearly half" of the national Olympic committees to provide information about the whereabouts of their athletes for out-of-competition testing.

This surely isn't good enough if the sport really wants to regain its reputation as being serious about drug cheats.
It goes on to say that:

According to the independent observers, the numbers of athletes tested for EPO in Beijing "were relatively low, notably in the sports where the use of EPO has been detected".

The entire article these quotes were taken from can be viewed at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olym ... 64017.html

[tandfman]

This surely isn't good enough if the sport really wants to regain its reputation as being serious about drug cheats.

"The sport"? Which sport? This happened at the Olympic Games and I've seen no indication, in any of these reports, of which sport or sports the 300 samples related to.

[eldrick]

"a "relatively low" number of athletes tested for the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO) and the failure of "nearly half" of the national Olympic committees to provide information about the whereabouts of their athletes for out-of-competition testing.

[quote:ayyahma6]According to the independent observers, the numbers of athletes tested for EPO in Beijing "were relatively low, notably in the sports where the use of EPO has been detected".

[/quote:ayyahma6]

neither of this is news

- many national feds don't enforce whereabouts as well as they shoud do - it comes down to lack of money - if you're going to have a lotta whereabouts forms enforced, you have to have money to pay for testers to go out there & ensure the athletes are there & test them - i doubt a lotta small/3rd world countries have money to do this, so no surprise

- epo tests are $400/each - ioc doesn't have unlimited budget & there's no way more than a fraction of athletes at games are going to get tested - the test is just too expensive, so worth only testing top-4 in an event

[Mennisco]

This surely isn't good enough if the sport really wants to regain its reputation as being serious about drug cheats.

"The sport"? Which sport? This happened at the Olympic Games and I've seen no indication, in any of these reports, of which sport or sports the 300 samples related to.

What is this, TIDDLYWINKS MARATHON NEWS message board?

Of course, the major centrepiece sport of the Games would likely yield but a small fraction of the 300 results. Please.

The "story" I'm suspecting will forever remain in an indeterminate state, is in relation to the prospect that the 300 results didn't go missing by accident, and maybe came home after seeing a doctor.