China opens world's most advanced anti-doping lab: officials

Chinese officials launched on Monday the country's Anti-doping agency, including what they claim to be the most advanced anti-doping laboratory in the world.

The anti-doping agency, headquartered near Beijing's National Stadium, employs 60 staff and occupies a new four-story laboratory. According to agency director Du Lijun, the laboratory is the "biggest anti-doping facility in the world with the most advanced equipment," a USA Today report said.

China has promised to conduct more drug tests than at any other previous Summer Olympics and officials say the new agency reflects the government's crackdown on doping. Luo Chaoyi, director of China's athletics program, was quoted by USA Today as saying that to avoid even one positive test by China's athletes next year is more important than "to win a gold medal."

In the 1990s, prominent Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned substances, but officials say that the ear has passed. "The positive rate in doping tests for Chinese athletes is much lower than the world average," Duan Shijie, vice director of China's sports ministry, told USA Today.

China performs a total of 10,000 drug tests annually, second only to the US. Zhao Jian, deputy director of the anti-doping agency and head of the Anti-Doping Commission of the Chinese Olympic Committee, maintains a testing pool database of China's top 2,000 athletes. Zhao also said that testing rules in China are stricter than in the US, claiming that if athletes miss a test, they will be punished, unlike in the US, which punishes athletes only until after missing a series of tests.

The new anti-doping laboratory will be inspected by the International Olympic Committee later this year and it will open for trials next March. In August, it will operate around the clock to handle 4,500 tests during the Olympic Games. In Athens, during the last Olympics, 25 percent less drug tests were administered. Armed guards will transport samples from the 41 Olympic venues to the central laboratory to prevent tampering.