From the A.P. report:
“An effective test for detecting human growth hormone will be in place for the Beijing Olympics, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency said Wednesday.”By the Olympic Games there will be a capacity to detect HGH,” WADA president John Fahey said.
HGH is considered one of the most widely abused performance-enhancing drugs in sports, and experts say athletes have been able to use the substance with little fear of being caught….
So far, HGH has been extremely hard to detect, partly because it clears the system very quickly. A test was used at the 2004 Athens and 2006 Turin Olympics but yielded no positives because athletes using it would have stopped in time to make sure it cleared the system beforehand. The latest development should allow for more routine testing out of competition.
“We know people have been taking human growth hormone with impunity and have been for 20 years,” WADA director general David Howman said.
He said the test would be able to catch cheats within a window of “more than 48 hours.”
Like Howman, Fahey refused to give details, saying drug cheats needed to be left in the dark.
Fahey did say he was very confident about the tests, arguing they would withstand any legal challenge.”
Good. Now to see if the PGA TOUR and the majors all agree to have it ready by the British Open and PGA Championship.
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