KINGSTON, Jamaica – The IAAF says a comprehensive and far-reaching anti-doping programme has been carried out in the countdown to the World Championships in Beijing, China.

The testing in Beijing, IAAF said, is important but nowhere near as important as a truly no-notice Out-of-Competition (OOC) programme conducted during the preceding six months, or longer.

The Out-of-Competition testing programme for the past six months, and more, has been targeted at those athletes likely to be competing in Beijing the IAAF said Wednesday.

The world athletics governing body explained that the off season is the most important time to be testing because of the heavy training that is taking.

The OOC testing, IAAF said, has been intelligence-led, and specifically targeted based on known risk factors for doping.

It said that they are heavily utilising specialist analysis such as the Isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) test, Human Growth Hormone (HGH) and other substances.

“It is more expensive and, at times, harder to coordinate, but it is crucial that the tests are analysed as often as possible for all possible banned substances (based on the risk factors for the relevant discipline,” the IAAF said.