MONACO: The IAAF has started using a biological passport program to help fight doping in track and field. The International Association of Athletics Federations says the “Athlete Biological Passport” program is in effect. The IAAF says “an ambitious and unprecedented blood-testing program will be conducted at the forthcoming IAAF World Championships in Daegu with the aim of establishing the participants' full ABP ‘fingerprint.”' The biological passport program monitors selected biological markers in athletes, whose abnormal variations could be indicative of doping. Cycling also uses the passport method to catch cheaters. Spain serious Alberto Contador and athletes involved in Operation Galgo should receive maximum bans if they are found guilty of doping, Spanish Olympic Committee president Alejandro Blanco said Thursday. Contador is facing a two-year ban and being stripped of his third Tour de France title after failing a doping test during the cycling race. Fourteen people are implicated in Galgo, including world steeplechase champion Marta Dominguez. “In the case of Contador and any other athletes - maximum sanction when we know” if they are guilty, Blanco told the Associated Press. “When it's proven an athlete has doped there is no debate - authorities need to act.” While all results are usually annulled and prize money can be paid back with a doping sanction, Blanco was also open to the suggestion that Spanish athletes pay back grants earned from the state to assist in their training. “If they are shown to be guilty then there's no debate, they have to return everything,” Blanco said from COE's Madrid headquarters. “Take away the grant and, even, try to make them pay back the money.” Despite vocally backing Contador after news of his failed test, Blanco dismissed any notion the Spanish cyclist would get preferential treatment after the cycling federation's president also came out in support. Contador tested positive for clenbuterol, which he has blamed on contaminated meat. “Until it is proven that an athlete had doped, you can't criticize the athlete,” Blanco said. “There is not a single doubt over the ability of our disciplinary committees in any Spanish federation. They respect the rules in that sense so people can rest assured.”
