IOC Might Retest Samples

The International Olympic Committee is looking into whether drug tests at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics can be rechecked for the recently discovered steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch said Wednesday.

Also, major league baseball and Major League Soccer have added THG to their list of banned substances.

The NFL previously banned THG, but the NBA has not. The NHL does not conduct random drug testing.

Lawyers for the IOC are studying the legality of retroactive testing of frozen urine samples taken to Los Angeles from the temporary Olympic drug-testing lab at the University of Utah’s Research Park.

“The samples exist. Now we have to look into all the juridical issues,” Schamasch said.

The IOC also is asking scientists whether the frozen samples are viable.

“We want to be sure that the quality of the sample is still good in order not to face any legal issue with a potential degradation,” he said. “It’s a very sensitive issue.”

Dr. Don Catlin, who heads the Olympic drug-testing laboratory at UCLA, where 200 to 300 samples from the 2002 Winter Games are stored, said that retesting is still possible for THG, a previously undetectable steroid.

Catlin developed a test for THG after an unidentified track coach sent a syringe of the substance to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.