LONDON (AP):

THE INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee (IOC) will retest doping samples from the Beijing Games to check for traces of a new blood-boosting drug and other banned substances.

The move, announced yesterday, is designed to search in particular for a performance enhancer that was only recently detected during retesting of samples from the Tour de France.

The Beijing samples - across all sports - are being sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory in Lausanne, IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said.

"This clearly demonstrates the determination that there is zero tolerance (on doping) and that we will use all the means available to catch the cheaters," IOC vice-president Thomas Bach of Germany told The Associated Press.

More than 5,000 tests done

The IOC conducted more than 5,000 drug tests during the Beijing Games, including nearly 1,000 blood screenings.

IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch said officials are still considering how many and which samples to retest.

"The decision will be based on intelligence, on information we receive and many other para-meters," he said.

The time frame for the testing process hasn't been finalised.

"Once we decide how many tests, and who to test, then it will not take long," Schamasch said. "We're not pushed by anyone. We will do it when we are ready."

The IOC stores samples from the Olympics for eight years, leaving open the possibility to retest them when new detection methods are devised.

Athletes caught by new tests can be sanctioned retrospectively and stripped of their results and medals.

The IOC previously retested some samples from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games to look for THG, the designer steroid at the centre of the BALCO scandal. No positives were found.

Suspicions

The Beijing samples will be reopened and tested for CERA, a new generation of the endurance-enhancing hormone EPO. The substance boosts an athlete's performance by increasing the number of oxygen-rich blood cells.

A new blood test used by the French Anti-Doping Agency detected CERA during retesting of samples from Tour de France riders. The original urine tests had raised suspicions but proved inconclusive.

Officials confirmed on Tuesday that German rider Stefan Schu-macher and Italians Riccardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli had tested positive for CERA at the Tour. The three riders combined to win five of the Tour's 21 stages.

"The idea is to retest across the sports, not solely on cycling," Moreau said. "They will retest for all the new substances that are currently detectable, not only CERA."