Catlin keeps track of Armstrong

Don Catlin was the man who revealed the secrets of THG and darbepoetin,a variant of EPO. However, at age 70, he has become known as the manchosen by Lance Armstrong to certify that he is clean.

Three-and-a-halfyears after he retired - after winning his seventh consecutive Tour deFrance - the US cyclist, 37, returned to racing last week at the TourDown Under.

Although he never tested positive, suspicions ofdoping have hovered over Armstrong's career, so Catlin was hired tohead a private anti-doping program that will, in his words, subjectArmstrong to an average of one test every three days.

The plandesigned by Caitlin, who is considered one of the main anti-dopingexperts in the United States, was launched just before the start of theTour Down Under, but there remain unanswered questions in relation tocontent.

Catlin is set to test urine and blood samples thatArmstrong takes, and he is set to publish the results online so theycan be compared over time, which is in his opinion a better way todetect anomalies than isolated testing.

Still, there arequestions as to what data will be made public? Armstrong was reluctantto release his blood levels, something that Italy's Ivan Basso is setto do. Catlin insists on the T/E ratio (testosterone/epitestosterone),but former Tour de France winner Greg Lemond recently questioned itsrelevance.

To address these concerns, Catlin has said he willfreeze the samples for 2-5 years so they can be tested later, he alsowants the tests to be carried out in European laboratories butpolitical and technical issues have arisen.

The WorldAnti-Doping Agency (WADA) warns that its accredited centers can onlyaccept and test samples issued by official organisations, because"individual" programs do not test for all forbidden substances andmethods on its list.

Catlin himself complained in an interviewwith the New York Daily News that there are too many agencies around,each with their own requirements.

Although it is Armstrong that is paying for the program, the expert stresses he is independent.

Catlinheaded for 25 years the laboratory at UCLA, the first in the UnitedStates to be recognised by WADA. There, he identified nearly a number ofsteroids and stimulants designed to avoid detection, although hisgreatest achievements were the
discoveries of THG and darbepoetin.

Tetrahydrogestrinone(THG), known as "The Clear" at the Balco laboratory, put an end to thecareer of the star of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, US athlete MarionJones, while darbepoetin cost the German-born Spaniard Johann Muehlegghis
initial success at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Twoyears ago, however, Catlin left the hunt and turned to research,founding Anti-Doping Research (ADR), a non-profit organisation in LosAngeles that is open to athletes and institutions willing to "help ridsport of the influence of performance enhancing drugs."