Heading the most advanced drugs testing system ever, Professor David Cowan recently said that no doping cheats would be able to win gold during the London Olympic games.

During this year’s Olympics, around 5,000 urine and blood samples will be taken, which will eclipse the 3,667 in Beijing – plus another 1,250 at the Paralympics.

Professor Cowan insisted that the advanced drug testing system will even be able to pick up the new designer drugs.

From Thesun.co.uk:

The spectre of famous cheats like sprinters Ben Johnson and Marion Jones, with their use of anabolic steroids, means cynics will forever cast a shadow of doubt over the authenticity of results at the Games.

The Human Growth Hormone will be especially sensitive — previously it could only be detected if used just before a test. But, this summer, it will show up even if taken days before the event.

According to UK Anti-Doping rules, British athletes can be tested 365 days a year, with no notice.

The new Games £20million testing lab in Harlow and funded by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline will be waiting to nab any one who tries to bend the rules.

Athletes Phillips Idowu, Beth Tweddle, David Weir, and Marlon Devonish are among those supporting pre-Games education and testing program of UK Anti-Doping.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, Ben Johnson, human growth hormone, London Olympic, Marion Jones

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John Steffensen, the Commonwealth 400m champion from Sydney, has disassociated ways with the controversial coach Larry Wade in the lead-up to his first international race of the Olympic year.

The coach proved to be a contentious choice in the first place given that the former US hurdler served a ban for two years for using 19-norandrosterone, an anabolic steroid.

From Foxsports.com.au:

The sudden urge to purge comes on the eve of Steffensen’s 400m race in the adidas Classic in Carson, California, on May 18.

And on May 19 another famous – some would say infamous – sprints coach, Trevor Graham, will go on trial for perjury in a San Francisco court.

Graham coached Sydney Olympic 100m and 200m winner Marion Jones, who is currently in jail after admitting she used performance-enhancing drugs.

US authorities will allege that Graham lied about knowing, much less having dealings with, Texas-based former Mexican discus thrower Angel Heredia, a self-confessed dealer in performance-enhancing drugs.

And Heredia has revealed enough evidence, published in The New York Times, to indicate that the collateral damage will spread from Graham’s group to other coaches and athletes, allegedly including John Smith’s HSI coaching group for which Larry Wade, the squad’s one-time star 110m hurdler and a medal favourite for the Olympic Games in Athens, was an assistant coach.

Chris Giannopoulos of IMG, the manager for Steffensen, confirmed the split with the coach and remarked that several coaching options were being assessed.

Tags:  adidas Classic, anabolic steroid, John Steffensen, Marion Jones, Norandrosterone, Olympic year, Trevor Graham

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Former Olympic sprinter, Marion Jones, talked about her experience on steroid in a lecture held in Wharton Sports Business Initiative series on race at the University of Pennsylvania. She told the public how steroids had destroyed everything she worked for, and how it changed her life.

Marion Jones was found guilty of lying to the federal officers on using prohibited drugs like the anabolic steroids. She was convicted and sentenced to be imprisonment for six months in Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas. She confessed that her poor choices and reactions had ruined all her achievements. She was obliged to return all her medals, two gold and three bronze that she won in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Marion used to be part of the North Carolina’s women’s basketball team before she concentrated on her track career.

From Philadelphia Daily News:

The former Olympic sprinter, who pleaded guilty in October 2007 to lying to federal investigators about taking performance-enhancing substances, spoke for nearly 30 minutes about her career as one of the country’s first millionaire black female athletes.

Steroids were part of the reason she was imprisoned at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, for 6 months. She was released in September.

While Jones didn’t touch on her experience in jail, she knows that she let down fans and supporters as a role model for up-and-coming female athletes.

Jones admitted that she disappointed and dismayed her fans and followers because she did not live up to the standards and expectation of a good role model. She also recalled how the Title IX legislation which was enacted 37 years ago had brought equal opportunities for her and to the rest of the female athletes.

Marion Jones promised to share her story in order to keep and live the opportunities that once she had.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, athletes, Marion Jones, steroid

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