Olympics: Barcelona '92: Blood testing programme accelerated: New drug tests developing as Bulgarians fall foul of old methods

BLOOD testing for banned substances is likely to be available at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehamer, two years earlier than had been generally expected.

The new method is likely to run alongside the present system of taking urine samples from athletes, which is open to manipulation.

The head of the International Olympic Committee's medical commission, Prince Alexandre de Merode, said yesterday that the process was being speeded up.

'After Barcelona we are going to make a special effort,' he said. 'By the time of the Winter Games we will be able to use the method not just in the medical sense but in the legal sense, too.'

Before blood testing can be introduced, it has to be legally verified through a minimum of 10,000 tests, and results have to be published in medical journals. No change will have to be made to the Olympic Charter.

The IOC, which has already carried out 2,000 blood tests, now plans to use the members of the armed forces in certain countries as guinea pigs.

Frank Dick, Britain's director of coaching, welcomed the initiative. 'But it must be universally applied. No one should be exempt, no matter what nationality or religious persuasion.'

Having consulted with representatives from several religions, the IOC now believes that taking blood from the ear, which is how the current test is conducted, is not likely to cause any problems.

The Bulgarians revealed yesterday that three rowers - Svilen Neykov, Rumen Alexiev and Daniela Milcheva - had been left at home after failing a drug test.

Three leading Bulgarian gymnasts were banned for two years for testing positive for diuretics in April and were barred from the Olympics.

The same month six members of the weightlifting team, including two former world champions, also tested positive for diuretics. 'They have been allowed to come to Barcelona because it was proved the diuretic was planted in their food and drink,' a Bulgarian official said.

The Yugoslav National Olympic Committee in Belgrade yesterday accepted the United Nations sanctions committee plan which will allow athletes from Serbia and Montenegro to compete as individuals in Barcelona, but not in team events and the opening and closing ceremonies.

The UN conditions had been approved by the IOC which is also considering granting Bosnia emergency recognition so its athletes can compete in their own colours. Yesterday two members of the Bosnian team were still trapped in Sarajevo after a relief flight to Zagreb was cancelled. Macedonia, which is yet to win international political recognition, is expected to form part of the IOC's 'Independent Team'.

Gillingham's grail,

Olympic countdown, page 34

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