The Beijing Olympics athletes must also contend with daily coronavirus samples.
The Winter Games has 2,900 competitors. They must be available for an unannounced drug control visit. This puts them at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, and could result in them being ruled out of the event.
The International Testing Agency oversees the sample collection at the Olympics. Wednesday’s daily tests, which all Olympic participants must take, added extra psychological weight to the mix and created uncertainty.
Matteo Vallini (ITA head of testing) stated that there is a lot of attention given to doping control procedures in order for them to pass all the COVID tests. It puts them under tremendous pressure.
Two days before the opening ceremony, the ITA, which designed testing for Olympic athletes, and the World Anti-Doping Agency (which oversees rules and testing laboratories in Beijing), presented their plans.
OMICRON CHALLENGES
The ITA has been aided by the wave of COVID-19 COVID-19 cases resulting from the new omicron variant.
Because of positive athletes testing, it was difficult to select the right team members and their replacements.
Wednesday’s statement by the agency stated that it had still reached 80% of 5,400 samples suggested to sport bodies.
WADA and ITA have confidence in their hopes for a clean Olympics, after more testing were conducted on athletes who will be training in 2021 far from their competitions than the previous pre-pandemic year.
Only four positive doping test were found at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games. However, all four years old samples are still in storage. If new intelligence or testing methods are developed, they can be re-analyzed up to 2028.
RUSSIA RELATIONS
The Olympics this year are unlikely to be the last in which Russian athletes will not compete under their flag or anthem.
As they did at the Summer Games Tokyo six months back, Beijing will be their official representation of ROC. Gold medalists will listen to a Tchaikovsky piano concerto from the podium.
These World Anti-Doping Agency sanctions will expire in December two year after they were imposed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Olivier Niggli, WADA director general, stated Wednesday that “the chapter is coming to an ending.” “We remain vigilant.”
WADA was against RUSADA, the Russian anti-doping organization. Two months ago, the election of a new leader was a key step in reestablishing it in international sport.
Niggli stated that they were pleased with the appointment of Veronika Loginova to the Russian sports ministry. “We are certain that RUSADA operates independently at the moment and we see no indication of undue interference.”
Sports governing bodies still have pending cases regarding the 2014 Sochi Olympics. They are using evidence from the Moscow testing lab.
Niggli stated that there are still quite a few of them that have not been dealt with.
The pre-Olympics program has seen the most testing of the 212-member Russian team.
BEIJING LABORATORY
During the Olympics, approximately 2,900 urine and blood samples will be tested by Beijing Sports University’s WADA-accredited laboratory.
This lab is different from the one that was involved in Olympic and pre-Olympic testing.
Two hammer throwers from Belarus lost their medals after they were disqualified for positive testing for testosterone.
WADA closed down the lab in Rio de Janeiro for four months before the Rio de Janeiro Olympics because of mistakes in the analysis of samples.
The lab now belongs to a university, not China’s antidoping agency. Niggli stated that this is “always better” because labs are involved in research.
“They have made great progress. He said that there are no concerns with the lab.
Niggli is certain that there will never be another systematic sample-swapping at Sochi’s laboratory.
He said, “The situation was different.” “There are many safeguards in place.”
