Athletes are not the only ones polishing their skills during the ongoing 11th IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing.

Chinese doping officials are also busy, using the championships as a rehearsal opportunity for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

"The doping testing scale is larger than in any former individual sports competitions held in China," said Zhao Jian, director of the doping control department of the organizing committee. "It is a good opportunity for us to test our doping control team before the 2008 Beijing Games."

There are 25 doping control staff and 40 volunteers working for the junior championships. "These staff will be the backbone of the doping control team at the 2008 Olympic Games and we will send more people to practice in the Doha Asian Games at the end of this year," said Zhao.

Anti-doping campaigns have always been a focus for IAAF, the governing body of the sport, in particular after Olympic and world 100-metre champion Justin Gatlin failed a doping test taken at a national event in April.

An IAAF senior official said on Monday he would definitely be handed a lifetime ban from the sport if he is confirmed positive for doping.

Pierre Weiss, secretary general of the International Association of Athletics Federations, told reporters after a news conference held by the IAAF and the local organizers of the World Junior Championships that Gatlin would pay the price for doping no matter what his lawyers said.

"The rules are very clear, two years for a first offence then a lifetime ban," said Weiss. "If it is confirmed that he has tested positive for testosterone, I don't see any way not to impose a lifetime ban."

(China Daily August 16, 2006)