The International Olympic Committee introduced a blood test for human growth hormone at the 2004 Athens Olympics and used it again this year at the Turin Games, but production delays have prevented its widespread use.
Frederic Donze, a spokesman for the World Anti-Doping Agency that oversees testing in Olympic sports, did not have specific numbers.
“Just to give an estimation, between the IOC, WADA and some other anti-doping organizations, since the HGH test was implemented at the Athens Olympic Games a few hundred tests have been performed,” Donze said.
No athlete has failed an HGH test.
Major League Baseball is not in a position to use the test because its rules do not allow for blood tests, but Olympic athletes are on notice: WADA and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency hope to expand use of the test some time this year when production meets their needs.
“The test has been so far used on a limited scale because the test uses antibodies to detect HGH in blood, and the antibodies that are being used at the moment are produced by research and we have very limited antibodies,” Donze said. “We have been working for some time with a company to produce antibodies in commercial kits, which means in a far bigger quantity. We hope in the near future we will be able to perform the test on a much larger scale.”
WADA and the IOC were coy about the HGH test when it was introduced, although WADA chairman Dick Pound mentioned it at a news conference on the eve of the Athens Games.
“We didn’t make it clear before the Athens Olympic Games, and it was on purpose,” Donze said. “We did not want to warn the cheaters.”
