The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has issued the IOC Anti-Doping Rules (for human athletes) which will be applied during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Tougher Rules and Significant Increase in Number of Tests

Allied with an increase in the number of tests: up from 3,600 in Athens to 4,500 in Beijing, whereby as a general rule all top five finishers plus a further two will be tested, the tougher rules serve as a clear demonstration of the IOC’s commitment to ensuring that athletes play fair. The tests include pre-competition controls, which have proved to be decisive. Of the 4,500 tests, around 700 to 800 will apply to urine EPO detection and 900 will be blood tests.

New Elements

Specific new elements of the rules include:

– an athlete may be notified and tested more than once during the same day;

– the fact that athletes who miss a test on two separate occasions during the Games, or on one occasion during the Games plus twice in the 18 months beforehand, will be considered to have committed an anti-doping rule violation;

– possession of any substance from the list of prohibited substances will constitute a violation (previously only a selection from the prohibited list applied).

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