• London Olympics 2012

Millar calls for more tests ahead of Olympics

Millar may yet compete at the London Olympics 2012 © Getty Images

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David Millar has challenged the International Olympic Committee to increase the scope of its anti-doping programme in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympics, adding that any athlete caught using drugs during the Games would need to be "pretty stupid".

The British cyclist, who was banned for two years in 2004 after testing positive for blood-booster erythropoietin, has warned organisers that athletes planning on using performance-enhancing drugs will do so prior to the Games, ensuring that they are clean during competition.

"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," said Millar, who is currently subject to a lifetime Olympic ban handed down by the British Olympic Association to all British drug cheats.

"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."

The IOC will conduct 5,000 anti-doping tests in London, including 1,000 blood tests specifically targeting EPO and human growth hormone, but Millar insists this is not enough.

"The IOC need to research exactly what all the national anti-doping organisations are doing and if there is a fixed criteria of testing for competing nations," added Millar. "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?

"Often a lack of funds is a problem when it comes to the number of tests a country can carry out. The IOC has all this money coming in from the Olympics so perhaps they should level the playing field for all athletes so that all countries carry out similar testing to the UK, Australia, USA and France."

But the IOC is adamant that its anti-doping responsibilities begin and end with the Olympic Games themselves, with national anti-doping programmes expected to ensure their athletes are clean.

"The IOC is responsible for the testing programme carried out during the period of the Games which starts on the opening day of the village on July 16 and ends on the day of the closing ceremony," read a statement from the Games' governing body. "This programme includes systematic urine and blood post-event testing as well as random testing.

"In addition, it is worth noting that all actors of the Olympic Movement (national and international federations, national Olympic committees and national anti-doping organisations) usually intensify their testing efforts in the period leading up to the Olympic Games in order to ensure that only clean athletes make it to the Games.

"This pre-Games testing programme proved to be efficient prior to the Beijing and Vancouver Games."

Millar could yet be brought back into the Olympic fold in time to compete in London should the Court of Arbitration for Sport rule against the legality of the BOA's lifetime ban, the only nationally applied ban of its kind, later this month.

If the ban is overturned, Millar would be in line to join the British road race team alongside Mark Cavendish.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.