SPRINGFIELD - Tracking athletes' physiological makeup over years could significantly crack down on the use of performance-enhancing drugs, the World Anti-Doping Agency's leader said Tuesday.
WADA president Dick Pound added an "athlete passport" could be in widespread use within three years. To create the document, a competitor would take a baseline test, which would become part of a medical profile used for later comparisons.
Such a program won't be implemented in time for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
"I think the overwhelming majority of athletes would be very happy to do it, because they know we'd be better able to catch the ones who are cheating," said Pound, who visited Western New England College on Tuesday to mark the opening of its Center for International Sport Business.
Currently, doping tests measure athletes' samples against predetermined average levels for substances naturally occurring in the body. That, however, leaves open the possibility that athletes with naturally low levels might be able to cheat without being detected.
Creating a baseline for each athlete would help detect spikes in testosterone or the presence of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, unusual levels of erythropoietin (EPO) or other substances that could affect performance.
"I think most athletes are prepared to take the risk of losing - they just don't want to be cheated by other athletes who try to win by doping," said Pound, who's stepping down in November after leading WADA since its launch in 1999.
After he steps down, Pound said he plans to work in sports arbitration to help review cases of questioned eligibility, doping appeals and similar issues.
As an outspoken crusader to eliminate doping in sports, he has pushed for stronger testing and more stringent sanctions for athletes who use performance-enhancing substances and countries that condone it.
Pound has predicted the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics could be the most doping-free in the event's recent history, and said Tuesday he is impressed by how much progress organizers have made in ensuring the testing and monitoring is as stringent as possible.
"They have made pretty remarkable progress," he said.
But other countries, notably India and some nations of the former Soviet Union, still have a long way to go, he said.
