Olympic doping lab world's most sophisticated
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | 1:47 AM ET
The Canadian Press
Dr. Christiane Ayotte exits the anti-doping lab in Richmond, B.C. (Richard Lam/Canadian Press)A dope-testing lab considered the most sophisticated in the world is up and running for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Built in back of the speedskating oval in nearby Richmond, B.C., and under heavy security, the temporary lab has already run more than 200 tests, although there was no word on whether any came up positive.
"We are now conducting pre-competition testing," lab director Christiane Ayotte, who also runs Canada's only permanent dope-testing facility in Laval, Que., said Tuesday as she conducted a tour for the news media.
"This is something the International Olympic Committee implemented a couple of Games ago, recognizing that doping agents may be used not only at the time of competition, but also in preparation."
A fully staffed and equipped lab is needed on site at the Olympics because test results are required within 24 to 36 hours to catch cheaters before they have a chance to skate another heat or enter another event. At a permanent lab, it would take 10 days to process a blood or urine sample.
The lab, with a staff of about 35, will operate 24 hours a day through the Games, processing 1,600 urine tests and more than 400 blood tests, or about 90 per day. Another 400 tests will be performed at the Paralympics in March.
About half of the equipment was shipped west from Ayotte's Laval lab, but the rest came from around the world, including some of the latest technology for analyzing samples. And when the Richmond facility is dismantled after the Games, the new machinery will go to the permanent lab, which Ayotte said will be part of the 2010 Olympics legacy.
The dope-testers don't promise to catch every cheater, but they are confident their techniques and equipment have improved to the point that they are winning the war against banned substances.
"The methods we have today are far better than 20 years ago," said Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC medical commission and a vice-president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). "I'd say the Games are getting cleaner and cleaner all the time."
'Everything detectable should be detected'
It was 22 years ago that the most famous positive test in Olympic history was made — nailing Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson for a banned anabolic steroid after he won the men's 100-metre sprint in world-record time at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
But while steroids and masking agents for the muscle-building drugs got finer after that, so did the tests, which can find traces 1,000 times smaller than even five years ago.
"We are confident that everything detectable should be detected," said Ayotte.
They are also confident they have the best people in their lab.
About half the staff come from Laval, but the rest are from around the world, including WADA-accredited facilities in Paris, Vienna, Cologne, Germany and Lausanne, Switzerland.
All the top experts in the field are also on hand, as well as lab directors from the last two Games in Turin, Italy, and Beijing, along with one for the next Summer Olympics in 2012 in London.
Their lab is hidden at the back of the oval and would likely not be noticed by spectators there for the speedskating. As test samples are top secret and must be protected from any tampering, a high-tech electronic security system is in place that had to be put on "disarm" temporarily as visiting reporters filed in.
Inside, the lab is packed with work benches where about a dozen white-coated technicians, all looking deep in concentration, ran samples in glass vials and bottles through gleaming-white machines in a wide variety of tests.
Rows of bottles and beakers are everywhere, while a separate room has large stainless steel refrigerators for storing samples.
Photographers and cameramen were prohibited from taking pictures of any bottle with a code number on it to protect the identity of the samples.
'Our job is to catch athletes'
During the Games, samples will come in each night from the various sports venues. Staff will sort the samples — two for each urine test — and begin screening them for banned substances.
If anything suspicious is found, thorough testing on the A-sample is conducted the next day to confirm a positive test. If so, the B-sample is tested to verify the findings.
They hope there are no positive tests, but it seems there are always some who try to beat the system.
"Our job is to catch the athletes who may be doping," said Ljungqvist. "They have no place in the Games and we want to protect the athletes who compete clean."
