IT'S official. Drug taking is now a recognised Olympic sport — at least as far as the bookies are concerned. Some international sports betting companies have framed markets on which sport will be the first to have an athlete stripped of a medal because of a failed drug test.
Not surprisingly, weightlifting is the short-priced favourite at even money, although observers will have noted that this is one sport that has had a plethora of athletes banned before they even got to China. Just this week, female Indian weightlifter Monika Devi was prevented from boarding her plane and Greece has lost 11 of its weightlifting team to positive drug tests.
Odds given for some other sports are illuminating. Swimming and diving are at 10-1, cycling at 15-1 (perhaps because the cycling events, as are track and field, scheduled later in the Olympic calendar) and boxing 25-1. Sailing is considered the least likely drugs suspect, at 500-1.
This comes as Australian track and field athletes have accused rivals of being cheats and one of the most respected anti-drugs officials, Arne Ljungqvist, hailed the seven Russian athletes accused of manipulating urine samples as being involved in "systematic, planned doping". Another three Russians, all race walkers, have also been found to have tested positive to erythropoietin (EPO).
And these Olympic Games are being held in the country that is the world's factory of performance-enhancing drugs.
Pessimists would claim this persistent exposure of drug cheating is proof that the drugs in sport battle is not being won. Optimists would claim this is proof that the testing is working.
The truth is probably in the middle.
Athletes have been increasingly willing to experiment with drug-taking, often not so much as to "cheat" but to recover from injuries and from repeated training sessions. They want to push their body beyond its normal limits and by taking drugs, such as steroids, human growth hormone, IGF-1 assists that.
EPO, or new variants of EPO such as Cera and Hematide, or blood transfusions, enhance endurance but also assist the body with its recovery. Stimulants give a short-term boost. Beta blockers help calm the nerves.
Athletes have constantly looked to legal ways to enhance performance too: viagra, laughing gas, colostrum, cobalt, creatine, caffeine, and combinations of supplements all give a mental and possible physical boost.
But the scariest development of all is the abuse of gene therapy. World Anti-Doping Agency spokesman Frederic Donze said it had been researching and preparing for gene doping for the past six years.
"We have to believe that athletes will try anything to get an edge and this might occur at the Olympics, and we work on that basis," he said.
Scientists have developed a drug containing the DNA that isolates the genes for endurance and fat metabolism. Tests on mice taking the drug show dramatic improvements in their ability to run longer: one study showed a remarkable 70% improvement.
This is the "exercise pill" that athletes are already trying to get their hands on.
British scientist Dr Andy Miah said athletes could improve their performance by inhaling or inserting foreign DNA. The practice could increase red blood cell production in the blood, which would boost endurance, or elevate proteins in muscles to enhance strength.
"We need to assume that it's happening. It's already feasible," Dr Miah said.
But the testing has also moved to counter the new generation of drugs. EPO testing is now more precise and is able to pick up its use well beyond the former 48-hour limit, and a new test for human growth hormone — also able to detect use of the drug beyond 48 hours — will be used at the Games.
WADA has been working with drug manufacturers to obtain the "chemical signature" of new drugs so that detecting their abuse is easier.
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