New anabolic steroid controversy: Drug tests already carried out on Irish athletes are set to be retested for the previously undetectable steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), which has only recently been discovered but is rapidly eating at the credibility of world athletics. So far, however, there is no evidence of any Irish athlete being linked to the San Francisco lab of Victor Conte, now known to be the source of THG.
It is widely expected several American Olympic and World champions will soon be added to the list of athletes who have used THG, through their association with Conte, to gain an illegal edge in competition.
Yesterday Dwain Chambers, the British and European 100 metres record holder, became the first high-profile athlete to be caught using the new steroid after a special test carried out at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) last August.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced yesterday morning that the UCLA detection method for THG had been approved and passed on to all IOC-accredited labs, including the London lab which analyses the tests carried out by the Irish Sports Council's anti-doping programme.
Those labs will begin testing for THG "within days", and also the retesting of certain samples still in their possession. That opens the possibility of samples already collected from Irish athletes also undergoing fresh analysis to check for the possible use of THG.
"It is normal for these labs to hold on to the samples for 90 days," says John Treacy, chief executive of the Irish Sports Council, "and it would be our intention to carry out some retests. We have already been in contact with our lab in London, and we will monitor developments in the THG case very closely."
Treacy feels the discovery of the THG test marks a major leap forward in the battle against drugs in sport.
"I would see this as a big breakthrough. You hear all the time that the athletes are one step ahead of the testers, but this shows the testers are catching up, and no one can be sure anymore that they'll get away with it. And that's fantastic for the sport. I know that the headlines will not be very flattering for a period of time, but the whole thing is going in the right direction, and I think the battles are being won."
Up to now the use of THG, known as a designer steroid because of its slight alteration at the chemical level to avoid detection in drug testing, has been limited to athletes from various sports - including baseball and American football - known to be clients of Conte at his San Francisco nutritional lab BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative).
According to Liam Hennessy, international secretary of the Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI), there is no evidence of any Irish athlete known to have any possible link with Conte, who was a former rock musician and whose BALCO lab is also the subject of a US federal investigation over alleged payments for his performance-enhancing drugs.
"One can never be certain about anything in these matters," says Hennessy, "but I couldn't see any possible link between an Irish athlete and what's happening with the Victor Conte lab in America.
"Certainly, as far as I'm aware, none of the Irish athletes that competed at the World Championships in Paris had any link. People can make contact in other ways, such as the Internet, but I do doubt very much if that would be the case here."
A number of Irish athletes are based in the US over the winter months, but none is known to be involved on the west coast with either Conte or the former Ukrainian coach Remi Korchemny, who also works with some of his clients, including Chambers.
Hennessy, however, also warmly welcomes the THG test: "It is an extraordinary breakthrough, and great news in that sense. Whatever about the short-term consequences, it seems it will go a long way towards cleaning up the sport."
In the meantime the results of some 350 samples taken from the US championships in Stanford last June, and which were retested for THG following an anonymous tip-off from a US coach, are expected within the coming days. Several prominent athletes such as Tim Montgomery, the world 100 metres record holder, and Regina Jacobs, the leading 1,500 metres runner - who are also clients of Conte - are expected to be part of those retests.
Marion Jones, another known client of Conte, won't feature among those retests, however, as she was not competing at the time because she was pregnant.
Conte remains adamant that his lab merely provided blood and urine analysis to determine mineral deficiencies in athletes, who were then prescribed supplements to address those shortages. Yet it seems increasingly clear that was only part of his services.
See George Kimball column: page 24
Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) is an anabolic steroid
The drug's existence only became known to anti-doping agencies when an American coach - who wished to remain anonymous - handed in a syringe containing the substance
The drug is said to have long-lasting effects on an athlete's ability to recover more quickly from training and competition as well as promoting muscle growth, but the detection period is very short, believed to be three to seven days
Scientists who identified and developed a detection method for THG have described it as a "stand-alone" steroid which has been specifically tweaked to make it as undetectable as possible
