More than 600 pre-worlds blood tests

LONDON

More than 600 blood samples will be collected prior to the IAAF World Championships, which get under way on Friday, to tackle doping.

Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) and UK Athletics said those samples would be used for Athlete Biological Passport profiling and to detect prohibited substances, such as human growth hormone.

A further 600 urine tests for detection purposes will also be conducted in competition "in order to detect a wide range of substances including EPO and steroids".

"The Athletics Integrity Unit is pleased to announce a very comprehensive intelligence-based anti-doping programme for the IAAF World Championships," said AIU chairman David Howman.

"What is key to this programme is the significant work that has been done by the Unit and its partners in the 10 months leading up to the championships to ensure that athletes competing in London have been part of a robust testing programme."

That 10-month out-of-competition testing strategy, which included more than 2,000 blood tests and approximately 3,000 urine tests, targeted athletes likely to compete in London in the August 4-13 championships.

The AIU, an independent body that manages all doping and non-doping integrity-related matters for the sport of athletics, added that it would continue the strategy first initiated by the IAAF at the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005, in which "all samples collected at the event will be transferred to, and stored in, a dedicated and secure facility for the purpose of re-testing at a later date after the initial analyses".

That re-testing policy has to date seen 27 positive cases since 2005.