The information is revealed by the German channel ARD. And it hits like a bomb. Several studies carried out in secret by laboratories in Cologne and Moscow and several hundred urine samples taken during past editions of the Olympic Games have revealed the presence of doping substances. Basically anabolic steroids.
The investigation by the German television channel ensures that these results would have been obtained thanks to a new screening method, never before used by one or more accredited laboratories. Above all, it reveals that the IOC would be about to take advantage of this advance in research to retest samples kept frozen since past Games.
Arne Ljungqvist, head of the IOC medical commission, explains: “This specific case demonstrates the usefulness of repeating tests on samples taken at the Games. I will definitely recommend doing a new round of testing going back in time. After all, we have the right to do so. »
Questioned by the ARD channel, the director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), David Howman, declared himself just as favorable as his IOC colleague to a new examination of the samples. “We can only recommend to the IOC to do further research,” he says.
According to the first elements, the doping products most often found belong to the category of steroids. With, at the top of the list, the now famous Stanozolol, discovered in the urine of Canadian Ben Johnson after his victory in the 100m final at the Seoul Games in 1988. Quoted by the Reuters agency, a Russian researcher from the Moscow laboratory assures that around a hundred urine samples, all negative at the time of the controls, but kept frozen since the date of the competition, would have all revealed traces of doping products thanks to the new screening method.
Will the IOC have the audacity to bring the past to the surface, at the risk of provoking a new doping affair on a global scale? Will he have the guts to reveal the names of these hundreds of former Olympic selections, a list which undoubtedly includes several dozen medalists at the Games? It’s up to Thomas Bach, its new president, to decide.
