ATHLETES at the Athens Olympics will be tested for human growth hormone. But we will not know whether anyone tested positive for at least another year. That is because the test is not yet ready, so officials will store frozen blood samples from athletes until the testing method is finalised.
The International Olympic Committee’s original plan was to have a test ready in time for the 2000 Sydney games. A well-funded international research effort called GH2000 came up with the basis for a test. But since then, progress has been slow. Christian Strasberger of the Charité University Clinics in Berlin, Germany, says they are waiting until…
