Test of Will

This program tracks the never ending race between the drug-testers and the drug-takers.

JILL COLGAN: There's been a quiet marathon running in Australia long before foreign athletes even began arriving on our shores for the XXVII Olympiad -- a race to beat the drug cheats.

SUSAN HOBSON, OLYMPIC MARATHON RUNNER: Of the girls lining up for the marathon in Sydney, the number in that field who've used EPO could even be as high as 20 per cent of the field.

JILL COLGAN: The world has been told the race has been won.

A new drug test will give us a clean Olympics.

But the Australian-made test we've been told will stop the dope cheats in Sydney has already been undermined.

DR PETER LARKINS, SOCOG TEAM DOCTOR: I don't believe it will have any impact at all on catching the EPO cheats in Sydney.

JILL COLGAN: Tonight, Four Corners explains why the International Olympic Committee has once again failed a test of will.

For every would-be Olympian, the Sydney Games represent the culmination of years of persistence, struggle and sacrifice.

For the men behind the Olympics, the Sydney Games must showcase a return to an image of strength and honour.

The very future of the Games depends on it.

Any hint of scandal in Sydney would bring crashing down the IOC's carefully reconstructed facade.

And the one issue most likely to do that is doping.

WOMAN: The urine sample of Ben Johnson was found to contain the metabolics of a banned substance.

REPORTER: Were you framed?

Are you innocent, Ben?

JILL COLGAN: It's been 12 years since Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal and bundled out of Seoul after stupidly testing positive to readily detectable steroids.

The reality was most dope cheats had already moved on to new undetectable drugs.

And yet the IOC has persisted with the public line that it's winning the war on doping.

DR PETER LARKINS: If a whole sport, or the Olympics itself, which relies very heavily on the commercial support now, both of the media plus on those major companies like the Coca-Colas and the McDonald's of the world -- they don't want to be associated with a bad image.

And if it was shown that those sports were tainted, if there was a lot of drug use, then you would expect that those companies would withdraw.

And the Olympics' future would obviously very much be under threat.

JILL COLGAN: The IOC and the entire international sporting fraternity finally got their wake-up call two years ago.

They watched with horror as a major drug scandal destroyed the reputation of the prestigious Tour de France, leaving elite cycling synonymous with doping.

TV REPORTER: The Festina team was expelled from the Tour de France last week after 400 vials of banned drugs were found in a team car before the start of the race.

Team officials then allegedly admitted banned drugs were supplied to riders.

ANTOINE VAYER, TRAINER, FESTINA 1998: After the Tour of '98, I did ask many Australian riders that was riding the Tour, "According to you, do you think there was a clean rider "who did not use EPO during the Tour?"

And the Australian, like the English, like the French, like the Italians, they told me, "No, I don't think so."

JILL COLGAN: Antoine Vayer was a trainer with the ill-fated Festina team.

He was a party to the systematic embrace of doping.

ANTOINE VAYER: I was speaking with one of the team and he said to me, "Oh, you know, what is important "in a professional team is not to have maybe the best trainer.

"It is not important.

"What is important is to have the best doctor."

That's all, you know?

So trainer and training is nothing compared to doctors and drugs.

JILL COLGAN: Without drugs, he explained, there was no chance of even competing at elite level.

And although he will not name them, Australians, he says, were right in the thick of it.

ANTOINE VAYER: Like everybody, you know, even if they are South African, French, Italian, English or Australian.

I have seen an Australian to take a pill, yes I have seen an injection into an Australian shoulder.

(Laughs) JILL COLGAN: The cyclists' drug of choice is this -- EPO, the synthetic clone of the hormone erythropoietin.

Naturally, EPO is a hormone made by the kidneys that turns on red blood cell production in our bone marrow.

Synthetic EPO is used to treat anaemia or kidney failure.

DOCTOR: It's as if you're increasing the output of a factory or the turnover of a factory by using EPO.

JILL COLGAN: In the hands of a drug cheat, this is liquid gold, boosting performance by up to 15 per cent.

First produced in the early '80s, it quickly found its way onto the black market and into athletes' veins.

The going price today is around $1,000 a needle.

For the dope cheat, EPO helps the body burn harder, longer.

During sustained exercise, the body uses oxygen to burn carbohydrates and fats -- the so-called energy fuels.

If the body is low on oxygen, it becomes difficult to burn fuel.

The body builds up lactic acid, which stops muscles working efficiently.

A dose of EPO boosts the production of red blood cells, delivering more oxygen to the body and helping it burn fuel better.

ANTOINE VAYER: The effect of EPO means you can train twice or three times more than the people who don't take EPO and you recover in a fantastic way.

The effects are really fantastic.

JILL COLGAN: Banned by the IOC as far back as 1988, there had never been a test developed for it.

Not even the drug's lethal record had spurred sporting authorities to find one.

DR PETER LARKINS: There's been reports, certainly in the 1980s, that as many as sort of 20 or 25 young athletes have died in their sleep for unexplained reasons.

JILL COLGAN: Dr Peter Larkins is a former Olympic steeplechaser, a past president of the Australian Sports Medicine Federation and he'll be on SOCOG's medical team at the Games.

DR PETER LARKINS: That's the whole point of EPO.

It thickens up the blood, increases the number of red cells -- your oxygen cells.

But the problem with that is of course this blood's got to get around through the small vessels through your brain and through other parts of your body.

And if the blood's so thick that it sludges, as we say, then of course things like blood clots in the brain and strokes have occurred.

JILL COLGAN: Between 1987 and 1990, 18 top cyclists from Belgium and Holland alone mysteriously died in their sleep.

ANTOINE VAYER: One said to me that the injection was practically every day and sometimes two or three times a day.

It is really junkie --

junkie behaving.

JILL COLGAN: It's effective and it's undetectable.

For years, cheating athletes have doped and won with impunity.

And it has rippled throughout the endurance sports.

SUSAN HOBSON: EPO is the drug you would turn to to improve your performance in my sport, in my event.

JILL COLGAN: Australian Olympic marathon runner Susan Hobson has just one more race to run.

The Olympic marathon in Sydney will be her swansong.

Yet she's convinced she'll still be lining up against women with an unnatural advantage.

SUSAN HOBSON: I would think that of the girls lining up for the marathon in Sydney, that the number who've used EPO could even be as high as 20 per cent of the field.

In the weeks leading up to the Games and possibly in the period following the Games, I will just wonder how many girls in my marathon race were on EPO -- or even other drugs, for that matter.

And it's obviously a question I will never get an answer to.

ROBIN PARISOTTO, EPO 2000 PROJECT: One coach, national cycling coach, said to my colleague, "Look, if a test for EPO can be implemented for the Sydney Games, "then that would be the greatest contribution "anyone or any organisation could make "to Australia winning the medals they deserve "at the Sydney Olympic Games."

That's always stuck in the back of my mind.

JILL COLGAN: Australian scientists entered the EPO anti-doping crusade almost by accident.

Altitude training has long been known to increase an athlete's natural EPO levels.

It's a response to the lack of oxygen at altitude.

The body reacts by making more EPO to produce more red blood cells to provide more oxygen.

In fact, the altitude chamber here at the Australian Institute of Sport has itself been controversial, likened by critics to an EPO factory, but defended by the AIS as a natural training aid.

It was while assessing the effects of the altitude chamber that scientists here stumbled onto a potential test for EPO.

They realised even the most extensive exposure to altitude still couldn't compare to the effects of synthetic EPO.

A shot of the drug delivered 10 times the benefits attributed to altitude training.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: We see quite marked evidence of accelerated red blood cell production.

And in particular, the component of the blood which is the new or the recently released cells from the bone marrow are markedly elevated.

JILL COLGAN: So began a research project with the Australian Sports Drug Testing Laboratory in Sydney.

They put 27 athletes on a regular regime of EPO injections to chart the changes in their blood.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: The total level of EPO is markedly elevated.

The proportion of the new red blood cells that are being produced is markedly elevated also.

And the size of the cells that are coming out of the bone marrow are also very, very large compared to normal.

JILL COLGAN: They found they could map five changes in the blood when an athlete was using EPO.

But what excited them most was the discovery they could track the changes in the blood after an athlete had stopped taking EPO -- up to four, even six weeks later.

This gave them two distinct models for assessing data from the one blood sample -- an 'on' model that picked up an athlete who was using EPO and an 'off' model for when the athlete had stopped taking EPO but was still getting the benefits of the drug.

DR RAY KAZLAUSKAS, EPO 2000 PROJECT: Well, after EPO stops, the parameters change in a way which is different from the normal population.

JILL COLGAN: So do we still see those five markers or some disappear?

DR RAY KAZLAUSKAS: No, it's a different combination of markers.

JILL COLGAN: Is there any other explanation for that combination of markers?

DR RAY KAZLAUSKAS: No.

JILL COLGAN: The reason the 'off' model created so much excitement is because dope cheats get the best results from EPO in a regular drug regime weeks before an event.

It gives the body plenty of time to make massive amounts of new red blood cells and performance benefits peak between two and four weeks after the last injection.

If they were to catch athletes using EPO at the Sydney Olympics, they had to have a test that would catch them weeks after their last dose, when EPO was being used to its best advantage.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: We really think that the OFF model is the strength of the blood test.

Absolutely.

JILL COLGAN: By May, 1999, they felt they had the makings of a foolproof test to detect EPO with both the 'on' and 'off' models.

They submitted their results to the IOC and waited.

Other research teams had gone before them in a quest for an EPO test.

None had succeeded.

The IOC was notorious for its reluctance to commit to any sizeable funding for drug test research.

PROFESSOR PETER SONKSEN, RESEARCH SCIENTIST: Well, the IOC felt that their role really was to protect the athlete against us scientists who wanted to take bits of blood and tissue out of them for nefarious scientific purposes.

JILL COLGAN: British scientist Professor Peter Sonksen had already fallen foul of the IOC's shaky commitment to research.

Three years ago, he was heading the Growth Hormone 2000 Project, trying to find a test for the other undetectable drug most talked about -- human growth hormone.

They presented a test to the IOC in January, 1998, requesting $5 million to finish it in time for the 2000 Games.

Do you think now that $5 million was an exorbitant ask?

PROFESSOR PETER SONKSEN: It's what it costs.

JILL COLGAN: So for that price, for $5 million, we could have had a test for the Sydney Games for growth hormone?

PROFESSOR PETER SONKSEN: I think, yeah.

I mean, as far as I'm concerned, you could have had a test for the Sydney Games.

JILL COLGAN: The IOC initially gave him $2 million but then it changed its mind.

It decided the price tag was too high and the money was withdrawn.

DR PETER LARKINS: It's another example where the IOC is scared of what they're going to find if they start testing athletes.

As I said, growth hormone -- not a new drug -- it was around in 1983 at the World Championships, when I was team doctor with the Australian team.

There was growth hormone left, right and centre being used in Helsinki 17 years ago.

And still we don't have a test at the moment to detect it.

JILL COLGAN: Instead, $2 million the IOC was going to give to the growth hormone project was now diverted to EPO research.

In September, just one year out from the Sydney Games, the IOC called for submissions on an EPO test.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: They put it out on a worldwide basis with the applicants having two weeks to complete the submission and return it to the IOC, which was totally unrealistic.

JILL COLGAN: In December, the Australian team finally got word the IOC would fund their research with US$1 million -- funding matched by the Australian Government.

The race was on -- only nine months to do what more than a decade and a half had failed to achieve.

As they began their task, the IOC was already hosing down high expectations of a test in time for Sydney.

JACQUES ROGGE, IOC: Each time the scientists told us, "We found it, you'll get the test in the next three months," each time, either a scientific peer review and/or a juridical review proved to us that the test was not foolproof.

JILL COLGAN: So began a logistical nightmare.

There was no way the test could stand up with the small sample number used in the initial phase.

PETER DAVIS, PROJECT MANAGER, EPO 2000: Looking ahead, the first challenge would be from someone saying, "But I'm a different group.

"I'm an Asian or I'm North American or I'm South American."

And so we foresaw that there would be challenges and there would be challenges based on ethnic grounds, or male-female grounds, or "We train at altitude," or some other variable in their make-up.

JILL COLGAN: Led by project manager Peter Davis, the team had to prove their test could apply to athletes of all backgrounds.

They set out around the world.

PETER DAVIS: We went to 13 countries around the world, approached their Olympic committees and their national federations and asked them to help us recruit volunteer athletes.

13 countries, 1,200 athletes and a good mix of male-female, different ethnic groups.

Now, that wasn't easy -- trying to deal with things like the coup in Fiji, language barriers, flight problems, getting blood transported back from those countries back to Australia.

JILL COLGAN: China, Kenya, France, Canada, Hong Kong and more.

The last stop -- New Zealand.

PETER DAVIS: Now, the second side is profiling elite athletes, and this is where New Zealand comes in.

What we're looking to do is recruit as many athletes as possible.

They would need to provide three blood samples and two urine samples.

RESEARCHER: Now, has your coach explained to you what you're here for today?

You're just participating as a reference ranging in our EPO project and it'll involve taking three blood samples and two urine specimens.

JILL COLGAN: Even non-Olympic athletes agreed to help.

NEW ZEALAND SPORTS OFFICIAL: For a long time, we've been after the drug cheats in sport and it's a chance to eradicate them.

It's a chance also to make a statement that we don't want them involved at the Olympic Games.

JILL COLGAN: The samples were still coming in right up until late July.

They knew they had a reliable test, but it was controversial.

Blood testing had never been condoned for the summer Olympics.

But their real innovation was the ability to trace indisputable imprints of drug use.

DR RAY KAZLAUSKAS, EPO 2000 PROJECT: The thing is that it's an indirect method, so what you're doing is looking at the effects of administering the EPO.

It's not a direct.

You're not actually measuring the substance itself.

JILL COLGAN: Even though you can see EPO in the blood?

DR RAY KAZLAUSKAS: Yes, but it could be natural EPO or it could be administered EPO.

Don't forget, EPO -- every person has EPO circulating in their body.

JILL COLGAN: Out of more than 1,200 athletes, 3,500 samples, the 'on' model triggered false positives in two athletes.

In the far-reaching 'off' model, there were no false results at all.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: As a stand-alone, the 'off' model stands unchallenged, we think.

JILL COLGAN: Though confident, the Australian scientists still had to convince the IOC.

SUSAN HOBSON: I was fairly cynical, and I honestly didn't believe it would get up.

DR BILL WEBB, ROWING AUSTRALIA: I didn't give it any chance.

I thought that the IOC being conservative and that the actual experimenting being done very late because of lack of funding, that they would simply say, "Well, we haven't had time to set up the actual mechanics of it "and we haven't had time to really assess it."

JILL COLGAN: Long-time sports medico and team doctor to Australia's Olympic rowers, Dr Bill Webb was watching closely.

EPO is believed to be entrenched in rowing at the international level.

An effective EPO test at Sydney would level the field for all rowers.

But he was sceptical, given the IOC's track record.

DR BILL WEBB: I think we've all had doubts about how committed the IOC really is to drug control in the sport.

I think there are a number of instances that have been reported over the years that lead us to believe that they don't have the commitment and world power that we'd expect, if they say they're the leaders in sport.

JILL COLGAN: Just seven weeks out from the Olympics, it was running down to the wire.

In one box, all their work.

The team was taking its dual test models to the IOC Medical Commission personally.

Lausanne, Switzerland -- a short train ride from Geneva, home to the International Olympic Committee and its $100 million tribute to the Games -- the Olympic Museum.

Surrounded by sensational vistas and historic charm, it was all lost on the Australian team, bunkered in their hotel.

Inside, they met the French scientists with whom they'd been collaborating.

Promisingly, the French had produced a direct urine test for EPO, but like the blood test, it was untried.

It had been knocked back for use at this year's Tour de France.

Also, like the 'on' model of the blood test, it could only catch an athlete currently using EPO or within several days of the last injection.

The Australian team's 'off' model blood test was still the only one to catch athletes weeks after their last EPO dose.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: There's been anything up to 40 people working seven days a week for the last six months, in any case, to get a lot of the work completed.

In the previous two weeks leading up to Lausanne, I guess it was 10 or 12 people working 20-hour days to get the report completed.

And believe me, after a while, it gets tiring.

JILL COLGAN: The night before their presentation, they met the scientists who'd judge their work.

Among them were former rivals for funding from the IOC and competitors in the race for an EPO test.

There was no gauging the response they were likely to get.

JOHN BOULTBEE, EPO 2000 PROJECT: I think it's unknown.

We can't see where the problems might come from.

And we've tried to anticipate the questions that might be asked.

JILL COLGAN: So how's everyone feeling?

JOHN BOULTBEE: Enthusiastic.

A bit nervous.

But confident about what they're talking about.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: In the end, it's probably going to be a combination of science and politics which wins the day.

Not one or the other, but both.

Scientifically, I'm confident.

The team's confident.

And I hope that for the sake of sport, somebody wins tomorrow.

JILL COLGAN: The next morning, it was just a short walk from their hotel to the Olympic Museum to begin their two-day presentation to the IOC Medical Commission.

As they left, the news swept the team.

The head of the influential US anti-doping agency had tipped their test bid to fail.

PETER DAVIS: Well, they were saying we couldn't get it done, there was no way we could meet the deadline.

It'd be impossible to do what we had promised to do.

That just spurred us on even more.

JILL COLGAN: In the media conference preceding the team's presentation, the IOC's medical director again foreshadowed potential problems with the test.

PATRICK SCHAMASCH, IOC MEDICAL DIRECTOR: We want to be sure that first, we will not have any false positives.

A false positive is the worst that may happen for a scientist, the worst that may happen for the Olympic movement.

We don't want to punish an innocent athlete.

JILL COLGAN: Heading the panel, Prince Alexandre de Merode, long-time IOC member and chairman of the IOC's Medical Commission.

He was flanked by the IOC's medical director, Dr Schamasch, members of their anti-doping committee and the invited scientists.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: It was very smooth, very smooth.

Very polished, very professional.

The messages were clear, they were concise.

What we were offering to the IOC was obvious and clear.

And we -- gave them a number of options to follow.

But after morning tea, it was a different ball game.

Believe you me, it was grilling at its best.

I guess it would be almost like being on trial, where you're constantly being hammered by --

..not just by one person, but by 13 different experts.

JILL COLGAN: One of those most against the test was Swedish professor Arne Ljungqvist, one of the powerbrokers on the IOC Medical Commission.

He is also head of the medical commission for the most powerful of all the sporting bodies, the International Amateur Athletics Federation, recently burnt over a spate of successful appeals by athletes challenging bans for alleged drug use.

JOHN BOULTBEE: One of the members of the panel was very close to the International Amateur Athletic Federation, and ropable at the way the tribunal had dealt with some of those cases.

And so, it was in an atmosphere of not leaving the door open for clever lawyers to be able to attack what is a good scientific test.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: There was this continual sort of almost denial -- that, you know, "Don't want to have anything to do with it and it's all too much work."

JILL COLGAN: Emotions during the day had roller-coastered and by Monday night, it was clear there was some reshaping to do if any test was to get up.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: At the end of the day, there was a little confusion in coming in as to what we exactly were giving them.

And then because they were confused, they then became, you know, quite negative.

And that sort of just flowed out to the panel members.

JILL COLGAN: Where did you think your bid was then?

ROBIN PARISOTTO: I thought it was in the gutter, basically.

JILL COLGAN: On the panel was Professor Sonksen, the scientist whose growth hormone project lost its money to the EPO research.

PROF PETER SONKSEN: Uphill battle.

JILL COLGAN: Why?

PROF PETER SONKSEN: Time's so short.

Time's so short.

They'd done a wonderful job, analysed thousands of samples and they put their heart into it, just as my team did.

But they're up against the clock that's ticking.

And it's not far away.

And it depends what a lawyer will accept in court.

It's become very forensic -- it's like murder.

You know, you've got to have the level of --

..that you'd expect from a criminal prosecution.

JILL COLGAN: Tuesday saw another grilling, but it was over by late morning.

The team was asked to leave and wait in another room.

And how did you walk out of the room feeling?

ROBIN PARISOTTO: I guess it was a -- 50/50 situation at that stage.

I mean, in the morning, it was, like, dead.

It was gone.

It was, you know -- "Forget it, and let's just get on the plane and go home."

But by the end of the session, it was -- "Yeah, 50/50, there's still a lot of support.

"There is still some resistance."

JILL COLGAN: Do you think it's the right decision, whatever that decision is?

PETER DAVIS: We don't know what the decision is until we get in there.

JILL COLGAN: They haven't told you?

PETER DAVIS: They have, but we've been asked not to say anything until the Prince makes his announcement.

JILL COLGAN: And are you happy with it?

PETER DAVIS: Very happy, so far.

JILL COLGAN: The team was told the outcome, but there was still confusion as to what exactly the IOC had passed.

There was no time to discuss it before they had to file into a press conference of international media.

JOHN BOULTBEE: It was funny, in a way.

We had a little bit of difficulty in picking up exactly what they were saying.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: I must say I was a little bit confused as to exactly what the IOC was saying.

PRINCE ALEXANDRE DE MERODE, CHAIR, IOC MEDICAL COMMISSION: The review group agreed unanimously that the EPO test designed for the Olympic Games in Sydney should be implemented.

The test, based on a combination of blood and urine analysis, provides information on previous and current misuse of EPO.

JILL COLGAN: For a short time, it seemed the IOC had stunned its critics with a courageous decision and put fair play above all else.

JOHN BOULTBEE: This is a test which relates to athletes who are using EPO or have used EPO.

They can take no shelter anywhere.

EPO has been the worst of the undetectable drugs in the sporting society.

Now, those who cheat with EPO know that they should stop, or not come to the Games.

And those who don't cheat will know that we're much closer now to a level playing field.

JILL COLGAN: Last week, before you came to this presentation, did you expect that the test was going to pass?

PRINCE ALEXANDRE DE MERODE: Hmm.

Frankly, no.

Because I was thinking we have a short percentage of chance to win and to have a test, because all what I have heard before, all what I have seen, was not good enough.

And now, the presentations, the questions, the answers you are giving, give us security, and we have to go.

NEWSREADER, SBS: Sydney Olympic organisers say they'll have drug cheats on the run after today's decision --

NEWSREADER, CHANNEL NINE: "Don't come September" is the message for Olympic drug cheats.

NEWSREADER, ABC: The International Olympic Committee's medical authority has approved a test for EPO.

REPORTER: Scientists say the acceptance of blood testing for the first time --

JILL COLGAN: It was a victory toasted around the world.

But what the fanfare hid was the fact the test that had proved the most reliable, the test that could catch cheats for weeks after taking EPO -- the 'off' model blood test -- had been rejected.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: They said it was just the blood 'on' and urine test whereas the 'off' model, at this stage, wouldn't be accepted as a sanctioning test.

JILL COLGAN: What was the feeling about the 'off' model not getting up?

ROBIN PARISOTTO: Well, there was disappointment, obviously, because we feel that as a blood test, that probably had more strengths than the 'on' model test.

JILL COLGAN: Ironic, really.

ROBIN PARISOTTO: Ironic, really.

That's correct.

JILL COLGAN: Four Corners has learned the IOC Medical Commission cut a deal with the conservatives on the panel.

Looking back now, do you think, in the end, the IOC had no choice -- that the science was so good, you backed them into a corner?

ROBIN PARISOTTO: I think that's a very accurate summation of the situation.

I think if the science had any --

pitfalls, or major pitfalls or limitations or any weaknesses, they would have just thrown it out the window, and quite justifiably so.

JILL COLGAN: They would accept the 'on' model EPO blood test to be used as a screening test and the more expensive, labour-intensive French urine test would be used as a follow-up to confirm any positives.

Despite all the urgings of the Australian team, the panel knocked back the superior 'off' model blood test.

PROFESSOR ARNE LJUNGQVIST, IOC MEDICAL COMMISSION: No mistake.

From that point of view, no mistake.

JILL COLGAN: Busy preparing to travel to Sydney for the Games, Professor Arne Ljungqvist spoke to Four Corners by telephone from his home outside Stockholm.

He insisted the science of the 'off' model wasn't good enough to stand up in court.

PROF ARNE LJUNGQVIST: I'm ready to admit that I looked at it in a fairly pessimistic way.

Scientifically, the 'off' model could not stand alone.

And we must not take any risk of bringing a method into our system which does not stand a legal challenge.

JILL COLGAN: But others on the panel disagree, including respected scientist and head of the IOC accredited laboratory in Los Angeles Dr Don Catlin.

Dr Catlin says he would have gone with the 'off' model blood test.

DR DON CATLIN, IOC MEDICAL COMMISSION: I think the science was very good, and it was near to being passed.

The difficulty that the IOC has with the 'off' test is that it's an indirect test.

So I think the IOC has, as usual, they take the conservative approach.

JILL COLGAN: The IOC looked like it was taking decisive action, while the test most likely to catch the drug cheats slipped quietly into the background.

Though the tight timetable was of the IOC's making, the team was told there had not been enough time to properly validate their test for Sydney.

DR BILL WEBB: I was very disappointed in the result at that stage and thought that the IOC didn't show the courage that I would have liked them to have shown.

JILL COLGAN: From within the IOC Medical Commission, even Professor Ljungqvist agrees the IOC has been dragging its feet on finding new drug tests.

PROF ARNE LJUNGQVIST: That is one of the criticism I've had over many years now, that, and I think I'm perfectly right in saying that had we had an international research fund available some 10 years ago when I first started to argue for it, we would have had EPO testing and growth hormone testing already by now.

JILL COLGAN: EPO and growth hormone -- two of the curses of elite sport.

Attempts to test for growth hormone were abandoned two years ago and now, the most effective EPO test has been sidelined.

Still, the IOC President claims the Sydney Games will be drug-free.

REPORTER: Juan Antonio Samaranch says the use of detection tests for the banned drug EPO will make the Sydney Games 100 per cent clean.

JILL COLGAN: Do you accept any of the criticism that the IOC deliberately didn't improve doping procedures?

That it was --

PRINCE ALEXANDRE DE MERODE: No!

That's ridiculous.

JILL COLGAN: ..trying not to catch athletes?

PRINCE ALEXANDRE DE MERODE: That's -- that's ridiculous things, you know.

There will be always people who say something because they like to criticise.

And perhaps they have an impression that they are bigger because they criticise the others, and that's not more than that.

JILL COLGAN: At these Games, the limited blood test will be able to pick up athletes for around three days after they've stopped taking EPO.

The French urine test may catch athletes for up to three days after taking EPO, but Four Corners has learnt that evidence put to the panel in Lausanne reveals the test might be effective for as little as 24 hours after -- this for a drug best used weeks before an event.

If an athlete returns a positive blood test but a negative urine test, they'll be allowed to compete and if they win a medal, to return home triumphant.

The 10,900 athletes will face around 300 random EPO tests once they're in the Athletes' Village.

Some arrived as early as September 2 but others won't sign in until as late as September 29, providing little opportunity for the testers to reach them.

Then, so long as they've stopped using EPO for a few days before they get here, they'll clear the test.

DR PETER LARKINS: It's going to be totally, totally ineffective.

I mean, basically, you'd have to be the silliest athlete in the world to get caught on these tests in the 72-hour period, because athletes who have been using EPO in their preparation for the Olympics to get selected or prepare for competition, they'll get benefit from the EPO for anywhere from three to six weeks.

So they can stop using it and six weeks later, some athletes are still getting the benefits.

JILL COLGAN: The IOC will take comfort, and kudos, from the EPO test as a deterrent.

Already, it has seen these Chinese rowers lose many of their team-mates, with China afraid to risk what the EPO test might find.

But those in the know say serious users of the drug will already be well aware of the test's limitations.

ANTOINE VAYER: The main problem of this is that the window of detection is only three days.

So I think maybe they'll catch some, but only -- only the stupid athletes who don't think.

I think they will not catch many -- many people, no, because everything is ready.

It's all an organisation for an athlete.

Yes, all the athletes who take drugs, they prepare before going to Sydney, so when they arrive, it's finished.

JILL COLGAN: The 'off' model blood test will be used at Sydney, but for data analysis only and to forward suspicions about drug use to an athlete's sporting federation.

The AIS scientists are hopeful they'll get back any results that show how many athletes did test positive to the 'off' model, only to slip through the net.

What they won't know is how many of those who reached the medal podium had the EPO drug in their veins.

Unlike other drug tests, the blood test won't be applied to all medal-winners.

So the regret is that the net isn't cast as wide as you'd liked?

ROBIN PARISOTTO: In a realistic and practical sense, no, it's not cast as wide as we would have liked.

But we still feel as though --

feel that it is an effective test, but not the perfect scenario that we would have liked for the Sydney Games.

JILL COLGAN: Given the odds against them, it's astounding the Australian team managed to get any test up in time for Sydney.

But when sport, politics and money collide at the Olympics, one can only ask what is the ultimate aim of drug testing at the Sydney Games?

DR PETER LARKINS: A terrific public relations exercise for the IOC.

SUSAN HOBSON: If there was rigorous testing and all the positive tests were actually released, I think the IOC would have to go into damage control.

It would be a huge blow to the Olympic movement.