The International Olympic Committee says it is ready to implement a test for gene doping that has been developed by Australian scientists in time for the Rio Olympics.
IOC medical director Richard Budgett said the only delay was that the World Anti-Doping Agency needed to be satisfied with the technology and formally accept the test. 
"WADA needs to be satisfied, they will formally accept the new test," Budgett said.
"There is already the test, it's a good test. The matter of logistics of obtaining the suitable reference material is holding things up.
"Once testing starts in Australia, we can do it in Rio. It's scientifically acceptable, it just needs to be happening in practice." Gene doping has long been feared as the next generation of cheating. Manipulation of the genetic code to introduce more favourable biological responses such as red blood cell production could dramatically improve an athlete's performance.
But Budgett said Australia had developed a test that would detect such gene manipulation.
He also revealed that the 31 athletes who were caught in retesting of Beijing Olympic samples were detected because new testing picked up steroid use going back a much further window of time, in conjunction with a more sophisticated test for eryothropietin (EPO) .
Meanwhile, reigning Olympic 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson has fin-ally committed to a return to -racing almost a year after she smashed her wrist in a disastrous fall in Rome which threatened her Olympic title defence.
Pearson confirmed yesterday that she would line up for her first hurdles race in a year at the -Birmingham Diamond League on   June 5, three days after this year's Rome meet, which she will avoid.
Provided her comeback race in Birmingham goes well, she intends to race in Oslo on   June 9 and Stockholm on   June 16.
She will then return home to the Gold Coast for another month of training before looking for two more races, possibly Monaco on   July 15 and London on   July 22, as her final preparation for the Games in   August.
At the launch of the Olympic competition uniforms last month Pearson said her ability to overcome previous setbacks and perform at major competitions had enabled her to keep the faith through a tough year.
She sustained serious hamstring tears in the lead-up to both the 2013 world titles and 2014 Commonwealth Games and bounced back to win the silver medal in Moscow and the gold medal in Glasgow.
"It proves I can do it, no matter what the build-up has been like into a major championships and that's why I have that belief in myself," Pearson said."I know how to race and I love the big stage. I thrive on the excitement and the adrenalin the crowd gives you."