LONDON, June 7: Athletes are using the blood of their team-mates as a means of improving their performance.

A BBC investigation has discovered that illegal blood transfusions are increasingly being used as an effective form of doping.

Athletes in many sports, particularly winter sports, are known to be transfusing blood from their team mates and coaches as a way of boosting their stamina and improving their chances of winning medals.

Despite bizarre nature of the idea, scientists who specialise in blood doping are certain that athletes are turning to these illegal transfusions in greater numbers than ever before.

Jim Carrabre, chairman medical committee of International Biathlon Union told BBC he had no doubts that transfusions were on the up.

“Almost majority of athletes that I saw at Salt Lake City (Winter Olympics in 2002) were showing puncture wounds. The sheer number that I saw made me suspicious,” he said.

“I started focusing on the size of puncture mark. You would use a small gauge needle to check haemoglobin levels, and when I saw size of needle marks I was convinced that athletes were using methods to enhance performance.

“Probably 40% of the people I saw were either transfusing saline or using a blood transfusion.”

Blood doping began back in 1960s with athletes withdrawing their own blood, storing it and only re-injecting it prior to competition when their body had already replaced missing liquid.

The down side of this type of doping was that it needed careful handling of blood, as well as storage and freezing facilities.

In modern era, athletes have solved problem of storage by leaving blood in veins of their suppliers until they are ready to transfuse.

Dr Carrabre believes this is what was happening at the Winter Olympics. “Blood transfusions are easy to do - all you need is a donor. In case of Salt Lake City there were lots of rumours and suspicions that athletes were transfusing from live donors that were brought over,” he said.—PPI