The Sydney Games are supposed to be the most drug-tested Olympics in the history of sport, but U.S. Olympic women's swimming coach Richard Quick isn't buying it. Although the International Olympic Committee has enacted new tests that will run the duration of the Games, Quick said Thursday that the IOC had done too little, too late in the fight against drug cheats. Last month, the IOC approved the use of a combination of urine and blood tests to detect the use of the drug EPO, or erythropoetin. EPO is thought to be one of the sport's most abused performance-enhancing drugs, used by some athletes in endurance sports like swimming, running and cycling to boost their stamina.
Experts say the drug increases the production of red blood cells.
The IOC has said that all of the top athletes, including medalists, will be drug tested at the Olympics. IOC spokesperson Franklin Servan-Schreiber said he believed that because of the current EPO testing, up to 50 athletes who were supposed to be in the Olympics wouldn't show up. There has also been success in pre-Games testing. WADA and the 28 international federations carried out over 2,000 tests before the Olympic Games. Still, the EPO test has come under fire because it covers only a three-day period.