COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, 18 October 2003 — Several top US athletes tested positive for the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), Terry Madden, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has confirmed.
The positive A samples were taken at this year’s US Outdoor Track & Field Championship in June as well as through normal out of competition tests. The results of the B samples are not expected until December. THG is not detectable through normal laboratory tests but a test has been developed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) using urine samples.
Madden said in a statement Thursday that the cases involved were “intentional doping of the worst sort”. Athletes found guilty face a two-year ban, which would rule them out of next year’s Olympics in Athens.
“This is a conspiracy involving chemists, coaches and certain athletes using what they developed to be ‘undetectable’ designer steroids to defraud their fellow competitors and the American and world public who pay to attend sports events,” he said.
Madden’s statement also said that an anonymous coach had provided the names of the American and international athletes allegedly using an ‘undetectable’ steroid as well as sending a syringe containing the doping substance. Madden refused to comment on whether athletes who tested positive for THG were allowed to compete at the World Championships in Paris in August.
WADA President Richard W. Pound commended USADA for its work. “We have to wait until the B samples are analyzed and proper process completed”, said Pound. “But this is a serious warning for cheats. It shows that supposedly undetectable substances can be detected as new tests are developed”.
