USADA beefs up drug testing ahead of Olympics

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced details on Friday of a rigorous drug testing program ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.

Along with beefed up, no-notice, out-of-competition testing, USADA unveiled a voluntary test program which includes sprinter Allyson Felix and decathlete Brian Clay.

"In order to prevail in the fight against doping in sport we must continually refine and explore new, credible measures that can be introduced to our program," USADA chief executive officer Travis Tygart said in a statement.

"Our efforts have as much to do with protecting the health and well-being of the overwhelming majority of athletes who compete clean as catching and sanctioning the few who unfortunately break the rules."

Felix and Clay discussed the program they called 'Project Believe' at last week's Olympic summit in Chicago.

In addition to remaining part of the regular testing pool, the elite group of athletes involved in the program, which according to media reports is no more than 12, also voluntarily agree to provide additional blood and urine samples.

These samples will be tested for banned substances and the results will be used to establish a baseline for each athlete.

Ultimately the tests will provide a baseline against which each individual athlete can be tested rather than using a pre-determined number.

USADA also said that in the Beijing buildup it would focus testing in sports with the highest risk of potential doping.