The Beijing Olympics was as grand as they come – from the epic opening ceremony and state-of-the-art venues to the 24-hour media coverage. Even the anti-doping testing was done on a huge scale, with 4,770 tests carried out – a record for an Olympic Games.

Under the authority of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, a system was employed in which athletes were required to take spot tests at any one of 41 doping control stations. As a general rule, the top five finishers were tested, plus a further two athletes selected at random. In the end, around 40 cheats were caught.