Beijing (AP) – The World Anti-Doping Agency virtually rules out manipulation of doping samples in the control laboratory at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
“We have learned, we also have observers in the laboratory and we have a new supplier of the sample vials,” said Wada Director General Olivier Niggli in China’s capital. At the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, the Russian hosts exchanged samples from their athletes in the control laboratory by opening the vials to cover up doping.
For the first time, the blood drop method (dried blood spot) will be used extensively in doping tests at the Beijing Games. Blood drops are dried on filter paper and then analyzed. There was initially a pilot project at the Summer Games in Tokyo. “Control is easier with the DBS method, and the samples are easier to transport and store,” explained Niggli. “But it does not replace the control procedures that have been used up to now.”
Wada also confirmed once again that the number of worldwide doping controls in 2021 has almost returned to normal test levels despite the ongoing corona pandemic. According to the World Agency, around 274,254 doping samples were taken by 256 anti-doping organizations last year. In the first Corona year, the number had fallen to 168,256 samples. In 2019 there were 305,881 samples worldwide.
At the same time, Wada emphasized that storing Olympic samples for up to ten years is an important element in the fight against doping. “The athletes cannot be sure that they will not be caught in several years,” said Niggli. The stored samples from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang have not yet entered the retest process. “You have to choose the right time when you have found better analysis methods,” said Niggli.