Sochi to have toughest anti-doping program

SOCHI - Sochi will impose the toughest anti-doping program at an Olympic Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) communications director Mark Adams said.

The IOC executive board met with officials from Sochi 2014 and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Sunday to discuss updates on hosting a "clean Games".

"The Sochi Games will be the most stringent anti-doping program in the history of Winter Olympics," Adams said.

"There will be 2453 tests carried out in total with 1269 being carried out pre-competition, which is a 57 percent increase from the Vancouver 2010 Olympics."

There were 2149 tests carried out for the Vancouver 2010 Games, 14 percent less than the total tests to be carried out in Sochi.

For Sochi, 1184 post-competition tests will be carried out with a focus on "higher risk" sports and team sports including ice hockey.

A total of 1944 urine and 509 blood tests will be carried out in Sochi. There will be 572 extra tests done for urine EPO detection.

The Vancouver 2010 Games carried out 1742 urine tests, with 507 focusing on EPO detection.

As a further deterrent, the samples will be kept for 10 years, allowing future re-testing should technology improve.

The testing process started on 30 January, with 98 tests carried out, including 70 urine tests and 28 blood tests.