IOC permits UCI to screen blood at Olympics

The UCI is one of just four federations the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is allowing to perform blood screenings on competitors at the Olympic Games in Beijing. The others are the International Association of Athletics Federations, the International Rowing Federation and the International Modern Pentathlon Union.

"These screenings will check several blood indicators before the athletes compete," an IOC official told Reuters.

When a similar program was implemented for cross country skiers at the winter Olympic Games in Turin, a few athletes were pulled from competition for a set period of time while awaiting blood values to return to "normal". For ongoing non-normal values, anti-doping tests were then performed.

The athlete's blood values are being input into a database.