Quote Originally Posted by Denise223
I'm wondering....Is it possible at all that TEST B could be tampered with??
Okay, so I've never been drug tested, but I managed a pro team last season in the US. We were lucky enough to win the doping lottery a few times during the season. You see, in the US, not only are the winners tested, but there are a number of random tests as well (ie picking a number out of a hat).

Because most of our racers are new to the pro scene, I accompanied them to the testing trailer. Here's what happens:

You sit outside in the sun in your wet shorts (after just racing in the sun), and the USADA folks give you gatorade until you can finally pee. Sometimes this takes hours. I think it might be faster if they gave you coffee or beer, but apparently that would skew the ph (see below).

Once you're good to go, you go inside the trailer with a USADA rep and the rep. explains the procedure to you. The rep. gives you some literature about USADA and you sign an acknowledgement. You pick a box from a handful of identical boxes sitting on the table. You then open the box yourself and inside are two glass cups (sealed) and a test strip. The rep. never touches the box or the cups or the test strip.

Then, you and the rep. go into the bathroom and she watches you pee into both cups. Imagine if you get a bit of performance anxiety -- this can be a long process. After you pee in the cups, you seal them again and the rep. gives you a label to put on them (with information about you, the race, the date, etc).

Then, you go sit at the table again and the rep. asks you to open the cups and administer the test strip to see if the samples will be valid (has to do with the ph level or something). Anyways, you seal the cups (sample A and sample B), put them back in the box, the box gets sealed and then you finally get to go home.

So, it would appear, on the surface, that there's very little margin for error in this process, at least from a collection pov. However, I have no idea what happens during the testing/analysis phase.

And, the crazy thing about the T/E test that was in question for Floyd is that there apparently are HUGE concerns about whether or not this test is even valid.

BTW, I'm sure there's lots of info on the WADA and USADA websites where you can learn more.