Would-be cheats face barrage of tests at London Olympics

London’s 2012 Olympic Games will be the “riskiest” ever for drug cheats, says the man charged with leading the antidoping programme for the event.

Athletes will face new tests for growth hormone, gene doping, and possibly autologous blood doping, where an athlete’s own blood is extracted, stored, then reintroduced at a later date. An army of 150 antidoping scientists will carry out the tests, supported by around 80 science graduates drafted in as temporary assistant analysts. Also, far greater use will be made of “targeted testing” on the basis of intelligence gathered before the games.

David Cowan, director of the …