Knowledge bank: If you have sweet dreams about Olympic medals the best advice is to be very selective choosing your parents! Research suggests that genes account for up to 50 per cent of the variance in athletic performance.

Knowledge bank: Developments in genetic technology move faster than the ethical debate about its impact on human life and also on high performance sport.

Knowledge bank: Is it at all possible to detect genetic manipulation for the enhancement of athletic performance? When a gene is inserted into the body it becomes part of the human genome. Afterwards, when making a screening how will we tell whether a gene is new or if it has always been there?

Work has begun on a test that can detect if athletes have used genetic doping to augment the body's own production of EPO. Funded by WADA, James Rupert of University of British Columbia in Canada and Australian scientist Robin Parisotto aim to have a prototype test ready within three years.

WADA is preparing itself for taking stronger measures in the fight against drugs trafficking. Following Sandro Donati’s presentation on drugs trafficking at the Play the Game conference in November 2005, WADA decided to invite him for closer consultations.

Fears that gene doping has become a reality are emerging in Germany in connection with a court case against former athletics coach, Thomas Springstein. In court, the prosecutor submitted as evidence an e-mail that Springstein sent to a doctor for a Dutch speedskating team asking for instructions on how to buy Repoxygen - a substance which activates a gene that stimulates the body's own EPO production.

Australian scientist Robin Parisotto developed a groundbreaking EPO test in the run-up to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Now he has begun work on a test that can discover if athletes have used genetic doping to augment their body’s production of EPO. In this excerpt from his recent book, Blood Sports, Parisotto describes what the world of sport may look like if genetic doping is allowed to go ahead.

Knowledge bank: On the opening day of Play the Game 2005, Kelli White, former World Champion in sprint, took the stand to explain why she had decided to use drugs to enhance her performance.