THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) will shortly introduce a test which can detect if a woman athlete has taken the male sex hormone testosterone.

At present athletes are suspended if their urine sample shows an excessively high ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone. But the present method does not show if the testosterone has been introduced artificially.

International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) spokesman Giorgio Reineri said yesterday that the new test would show definitely if an athlete had taken testosterone. "The head of the IOC medical commission, Prince Alexandre de Merode, told me that in the next two or three months a test would be ready able to show if somebody had taken testosterone."