The World Anti-Doping Agency launched new guidelines yesterday on how to monitor athletes' blood profiles for evidence of cheating.

During a two-day meeting in Stockholm to mark the organisation's 10th anniversary, the WADA executive committee ratified the guidelines for the "athlete biological passport" system that has been under consideration since 2002.

Providing guidelines

The guidelines provide advice to anti-doping agencies on how to implement programmess to collect and store athletes' blood samples and monitor them for any variations that could indicate doping - without an actual positive test.

"This is a long time coming. It's without the slightest doubt a great step forward for the world of sports," WADA president John Fahey told his organisation's members at Stockholm's City Hall.

WADA vice-president Arne Ljungqvist said laboratories will be asked to register blood data according to the new guidelines that will be used during the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February. That data will then be delivered to the different sport federations, which will decide individually if they want to start using the new methods.

New detection methods

However, he pointed out that it is unlikely the new methods can be used to detect doping during Vancouver Games, since earlier samples registered under the same guidelines are needed as a comparison to detect any abnormal changes.

Fahey said the case of five-time Olympic speed-skating champion Claudia Pechstein - who was banned from competing for two years due to abnormal blood levels - had shown it was possible to sanction someone based on their blood profile.