Scot believes HGH and EPO could be used outside testing window
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Millar (nearest camera) in action for Great Britain at the 2011 Road World Championships(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
David Millar (Great Britain) during his ride(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
David Millar told a story about the Tour(Image credit: Mark Johnson)
David Millar gets ready to start(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Millar (right) was a key factor in Cavendish's Road World Championship win(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
David Millar says that the dope testing regime for this year's London Olympic Games does not go far enough, with athletes considering using PEDs far more likely to do so in the two months leading up to competition.
Millar will find out next month if he is eligible for selection in the Great Britain team, with the Court of Arbitration for Sport set to rule if the British Olympic Association's stance of a lifetime ban for his EPO use is "non-compliant". It is the only Olympic Committee in the world to hold such a stance.
The Scotsman has previously indicated that he has "written off" competing at an Olympic Games telling the BBC, "There are certain fights I don't want to fight and that was one of them."
The International Olympic Committee will begin its testing programme less than two weeks prior to the London Games Opening Ceremony (July 27). Some nations will carry out additional athlete testing, however it is not a program that can be carried out by all 205 competing countries due to cost factors. Millar is adamant that the IOC's measures do not go far enough.
"For drugs such as HGH and EPO, the window for using them is in the preparation phase, not actually during the Games or just before them," Millar told The Telegraph.
"They are hormonal-based which aims to make your body stronger to perform and you would be doing it in the two months beforehand, with the idea then to rest up and have a clean system going into the Games. That's how it works.
"The testing during the Games is a fantastic deterrent but it's a pretty stupid athlete who would be using drugs during the Games."
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While more athletes will be tested in London than any other Games, only up to half of the attending athletes will come under scrutiny. Up to 400 athletes per day will be tested during Games time and only 20 per cent of those will be blood tests.
Millar believes that the IOC needs to make better use of its revenue stream and invest in the anti-doping fight to ensure a level playing field.
"UK Anti-Doping are on top of it and we want the British team to be the cleanest team in the Olympics but what about all the smaller nations?" he posed.
The 35-year-old is the only cyclist who serves as a member of WADA's Athlete Committee which was established in 2005 to represent the views and rights of athletes worldwide, while providing insight and oversight into athletes' roles and responsibilities as it relates to anti-doping.
