Blood Samples Might Be Used for Drug Testing in Olympics

Blood samples probably will be used in testing athletes for drugs at future Olympics, the Games’ top anti-doping official says.

Despite sensitive moral and legal questions, blood tests offer the best way to identify banned substances that evade detection in urine samples, Prince Alexandre de Merode, chairman of the IOC’s medical commission, said Tuesday.

De Merode presented a report on the issue to the IOC Executive Board and said he expects it will receive final approval by the IOC next year.

“I believe everybody is interested in doing this because they realize the difficulty and necessity of detecting new drugs,” he said. “Taking blood is probably the only way to have a good test.”

De Merode said blood tests would supplement urine samples, not replace them.

“It will be a complementary test, a second check,” he said.

IOC spokeswoman Michele Verdier said blood tests would not be implemented until after the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The earliest they could be used would be at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway.

The issue was first raised at the IOC’s Executive Board meeting at Barcelona in April.

On another medical issue, De Merode said the IOC was still examining the possibility of instituting physical exams to test athletes for gender. Since 1968, gender has been tested only through saliva samples.