Beijing Games will be cleanest ever: WADA chief

8220;One has to recognise the question of doping in sport has been around now for a long time,8221; Fahey told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 8220;There8217;s been evidence that at successive games it8217;s occurred.

8220;But I can give this guarantee: there8217;s a far greater likelihood that anybody cheating or attempting to cheat in the Beijing Games will be caught than in any other time of our history,8221; he told ABC radio.

Fahey also said that Italian rider Riccardo Ricco tested positive at the Tour de France after a secret molecule was planted in the blood booster EPO during its manufacture in a bid to crack down on drug cheating in sports.

And he questioned suggestions that his agency8217;s EPO erythropoietin tests had been proven fatally flawed by independent studies, including a report that claimed WADA laboratories were classing positive EPO tests as negatives and vowed to keep up a vigorous pursuit of drug cheats.

8220;We do not ignore such evidence but it is questioned,8221; Fahey said, adding experts had cast serious doubts on the external research.

8220;We8217;re committed to vigorously pursuing cheaters. But we also must ensure any of our detection methods that are approved and implemented can withstand not only scientific challenge but legal challenge,8221; he said.