The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is to retest every doping sample, across all sports, taken at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, in order to check for traces of newly-discovered blood-boosting drug CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator).
The IOC conducted around 5,000 doping tests during this year’s Games. Emmanuelle Moreau, IOC spokeswoman, confirmed that every sample taken would be re-examined by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s laboratory in Lausanne. The IOC’s decision to test for CERA, an advanced version of the endurance-enhancing hormone EPO, was taken after the drug was detected in Tour de France samples that had previously been passed as clean.
As part of its zero-tolerance policy against doping, the IOC is storing samples collected during the Olympic Games for eight years. This allows the IOC to analyse samples retroactively should fully validated tests to detect new substances/methods become available.
IOC Vice President Thomas Bach said that road cycling could lose its status as an Olympic sport if positive drug tests continued. Although IOC spokeswoman Moreau more recently stated that "The IOC will continue to support the International Cycling Union and any other international federation as long as it is deploying meaningful and credible means and efforts to fight against doping."
