Doping Initiative Halted By Lack of Funds

A test developed by a British scientist to detect the abuse of human growth hormone by athletes is facing a race against time to be ready for the Athens Olympics next year because of a lack of funds.

The hormone, which can trigger huge increases in muscle growth, has remained undetectable so far despite being banned since 1987 and is so popular among top athletes that it has been dubbed the "drug of champions".

Professor Peter Sonksen and a team at Southampton University believe they have made a breakthrough by identifying indirect "markers" in the human body which can provide evidence of drug abuse.

But the delay in receiving a grant of $200,000 (£126,000) from the World Anti-Doping Agency, which is holding a three-day conference in Copenhagen, to fund a development programme means it is unlikely to be in place by Athens.

It will be the second consecutive Games that an analysis could have been in place but has not been implemented. Sonksen claims it would have been ready by Sydney in 2000 but funds were diverted to developing a fool-proof test for erythropoietin (EPO).

Geraldine Hendricken, Ireland's best runner after Sonia O'Sullivan, has tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone. She has been left out of the Irish team for the world indoor championships in Birmingham next week and faces a two-year ban.

"Obviously there is some sort of problem but I don't know why and I don't know what it's all about," she said. "But this is the nightmare of every athlete and that's all I can know about it."