Blood doping test nears implementation

[Landslide]

Summat else they'll not be able to get away with:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/oct/10/drugsinsport-cycling

 

[Chuffy]

Fantastic! That was one of the methods that USP/Disco were supposedly using.
When is the blood passport scheme supposed to be starting? Seems like it's been talked about for a long time now...

 

[Steve Austin]

Chuffy, when were USP supposedly using that method?

 

[Chuffy]

Chuffy, when were USP supposedly using that method?

I'd have to dig out the reference to give you chapter and verse, but it comes from the transcript of an instant messaging conversation between Frankie Andreu and Johnathan Vaughters. It's in Lance to Landis.

 

[Keith Oates]

<Olivier Rabin, the director of science at Wada, said: "We do not indicate when a test is ready, so as not to warn athletes.

Surely the idea of stopping 'doping' is to have a clean race. Here we have a statement that says we want to catch the people and not warn them what may happen. This suggests to me that he is saying catching people is more important than stopping from doing it in the first place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[John the Monkey]

Surely the idea of stopping 'doping' is to have a clean race. Here we have a statement that says we want to catch the people and not warn them what may happen. This suggests to me that he is saying catching people is more important than stopping from doing it in the first place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting take on it Keith.

I think part of stopping doping will always be about catching, and making an example of, the people that are prepared to do it - maybe the statement is looking towards that?

 

[Skip Madness]

I suppose you could argue that the value of that approach is that it catches out those who are inclined to cheat in the first place - catch them with something now, stop them getting ahead of the testers in the future. But I would rather that such athletes - bastards though they may be - were bastards who were forced into competing cleanly than not competing at all by semi-entrapment (I know it isn't entrapment to let someone go ahead and make their own decision, but if announcing the tests in the first place will stop them doing it then that would be preferable to me).

(Edit: Good point ↓↓↓)

 

[Landslide]

I guess that in addition anyone who is tempted to dope will stop and think about what tests might be in use or in the pipeline that haven't been publicised at all.

 

[Tetedelacourse]

Yeah good point Keith and Landslide.

I'm curious about how wide-spread the practice of Autologous BTs is. I read somewhere (can't recall where) that it's far less favoured for the pros because the practice of extracting blood when you're at your peak means a dip in performance at that point. So it'd have to be off-season, when you're not going to be at your peak anyway?

Can anyone enlighten a baffled moi?

 

[beancounter]

It's in Lance to Landis.

Righto, must be true then......

bc

 

[Chuffy]

Yeah good point Keith and Landslide.

I'm curious about how wide-spread the practice of Autologous BTs is. I read somewhere (can't recall where) that it's far less favoured for the pros because the practice of extracting blood when you're at your peak means a dip in performance at that point. So it'd have to be off-season, when you're not going to be at your peak anyway?

Can anyone enlighten a baffled moi?

Unless you're not bothered by your performance at the point when the blood is taken. If you're focusing on a handful of races then that wouldn't necessarily be a problem.

 

[Chuffy]

<Olivier Rabin, the director of science at Wada, said: "We do not indicate when a test is ready, so as not to warn athletes.

Surely the idea of stopping 'doping' is to have a clean race. Here we have a statement that says we want to catch the people and not warn them what may happen. This suggests to me that he is saying catching people is more important than stopping from doing it in the first place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I get accused of being cynical.
Would you support giving athletes written notice of when they will be tested? After all, if it's not about catching the cheats and simply letting people know that we have tests to deter naughtiness, why not?

Why should these cheating sods get advance warning? Surely we want to catch them? Once caught, we put their heads on spikes and frighten away others who might consider doing the same.

 

[Steve Austin]

Yeah good point Keith and Landslide.

I'm curious about how wide-spread the practice of Autologous BTs is. I read somewhere (can't recall where) that it's far less favoured for the pros because the practice of extracting blood when you're at your peak means a dip in performance at that point. So it'd have to be off-season, when you're not going to be at your peak anyway?

Can anyone enlighten a baffled moi?

Its to do with white red blood cells. If you take blood when you have been altitude training, they will have a high white red cell count. Then if you inject this back in, when needed, you have blood with more white red blood cells, than you had before. This gives you more oomph apparently.
If they develop a test to detect your own blood going back into your system, then thats all very clever, but how accurate will it be?
I doubt it will ever be 100% accurate

 

[Steve Austin]

I'd have to dig out the reference to give you chapter and verse, but it comes from the transcript of an instant messaging conversation between Frankie Andreu and Johnathan Vaughters. It's in Lance to Landis.

So its not fact then As you were. any more gossip? Or unfounded speculation?

 

[Tim Bennet.]

White blood cells?