The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it is retesting doping samples from the Beijing Summer Olympics for a class of blood boosting drugs known as CERA; the introduction of the CERA test surprised numerous athletes at the 2008 Tour de France. There has been some suggestion by the IOC and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that a new test for autologous blood transfusions could used if it is validated and approved in time.

On Wednesday the International Olympic Committee said the new Cera blood test would be used to analyse almost 1,000 blood samples collected during the Beijing Games, and an IOC spokeswoman added last night that these samples could also be tested for autologous transfusions “if a method is fully validated by the scientific community [and] Wada.”

Speculation over a possible new test for autologous transfusions, which duplicate the effect of EPO in increasing the flow of oxygen-carrying red blood cells and so helping endurance, followed claims made by [Pierre] Bordry [of French Anti-Doping Agency] to German television. Bordry said his agency had “serious evidence about cases of autologous transfusions [during the Tour]“. “Soon,” added Bordry, “we will be able to prove autologous transfusions and we will then test [for] it.”

WADA and the IOC can be very selective in which samples they test for CERA. It is expected that WADA will target cycling due to the prevalent use of blood boosting drugs and procedures in the sport. WADA’s Director General David Howman revealed that all doping samples are bar-coded with a representative code designated the participant’s sport. There is considerable concern that numerous adverse analytical findings (AAFs) could jeopardize the future of Olympic road race cycling.