Every British athlete competing in the Beijing Olympics will be dope tested at least once before this year's Games as part of the country's most comprehensive pre-Olympic testing programme, UK Sport announced.

More than 1,500 tests will be carried out on athletes attending the Aug. 8 to 24 Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games in a programme run in partnership with the British Olympic Association and British Paralympic Association.

"We have a duty to ensure we do all we can to show the world that the British teams competing in Beijing are drug-free," John Scott, director of Drug-Free Sport at UK Sport said.

"In particular, we want the British public to have confidence that the performances they are watching are from athletes who have achieved success through four years of hard work, determination and dedication, and not through cheating,"

"The majority of tests will be attempted through no advance notice out-of-competition tests, either at squad training sessions or through whereabouts information provided by athletes, with additional tests targeted at key in-competition Beijing selection events.

"Both urine and blood testing will be used.

"Whilst the overall aim is to test everyone at least once, obviously those in more high-risk sports or disciplines can and will be tested more often. Essentially there is no limit to the number of times we might test any individual athlete."

Reuters