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By Andrew Fraser
BBC Sport in Athens
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Pound says cheats cannot be tolerated
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World anti-doping chief Dick Pound has launched a stinging attack on US athletics bosses over the recent doping scandals to hit the American team.
Pound said USA Track and Field must shoulder the blame for a string of positive tests and investigations.
"The leadership within USA Track and Field has been largely responsible for this problem getting as extensive as it has," he added.
"They are going to have to look very carefully at their own house."
Pound confirmed there would be a test for human growth hormone (HGH) at the Athens Olympics, which start on Friday.
He pledged doping controls would be tighter than ever before, with the number of tests increasing by 25% from the Sydney figures four years ago.
And he said athletes needed to be told cheating was not acceptable.
"There is a lack of no tolerance for cheating and until that message goes out and there are some stringent measures to make sure that happens, it is kind of an invitation to flirt there at the edges," he said.
"We have to make it clear to the people around the athletes that these are not racehorses they are exploiting.
"These are people whose lives they are ruining by encouraging them to use these drugs.
"THG [the designer steroid] went from the laboratory bench into the bodies of athletes and nobody has the faintest idea what the side-effects could be. It's reckless and dangerous."
The US team suffered its latest blow on Wednesday when sprinter Torri Edwards received a two-year ban after testing positive for the banned stimulant nikethamide in April.
Edwards, who plans to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, inherited last year's world 100m title from US team-mate Kelli White.
White was suspended for two years in May after admitting taking the stimulant modafinil.
The US team is also reeling from the investigation surrounding the THG scandal.
World indoor 1500m champion Regina Jacobs, US shot put champion Kevin Toth and hammers throwers Melissa Price and John McEwen all tested positive for the designer steroid.
Hurdlers Sandra Glover, Eric Thomas and Chris Phillips and sprinter Chryste Gaines tested positive for modafinil.
And world 100m record holder Tim Montgomery, who did not qualify to compete in Athens, was sent a letter by the US Anti-doping Agency alleging doping violations.
However, Pound did reserve praise for USADA, the national anti-doping agency in the United States.
"It was USADA that got a sample of THG and developed a test for it, and they have been very careful putting together the evidence of the use of this stuff by athletes," he said.
"We're very pleased with the work USADA has done. But it doesn't solve the problems for USA Track and Field and that is something they are going to have to address very carefully themselves."
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