The National Anti-Doping Agency has financial concerns. The reason for this is extreme price increases. Most recently, NADA’s budget was around twelve million euros.
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) is very concerned about funding the fight against sports fraud.
“The ending pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the enormous price increase due to inflation presented and continue to pose new challenges for NADA”said NADA CEO Andrea Gotzmann at a press conference in Berlin. “The question of the security of NADA financing is more relevant than ever.” With the service providers alone, there has been a price increase of 30 to 40 percent.
Without readjustment of the support, the high quality and appreciation of anti-doping work in Germany is at risk. NADA’s total budget was around 12 million euros, of which 8.2 million came from federal funds. “I assume there will be a slight decrease in controls in 2023”, said Gotzmann, “but the top end will not be affected.”
Protect values of sport
The further development of anti-doping work is essential in order to be able to protect the values of sport, said the 65-year-old chemist, who will step down as CEO at the end of July. “NADA has developed further and further over the last 12 years. It is a farewell with the famous laughing and crying eye.”said Gotzmann.
According to NADA, the number of criminal charges filed due to possible violations of the anti-doping law rose “to a record level” last year, reported NADA board member Lars Mortsiefer. Therefore, the expansion of the network for state investigative agencies is necessary.
Under the direction of NADA, a total of 12,387 controls with 15,465 samples were arranged in 2022, according to a statement. Of these, 6,678 tests with 9,163 samples were carried out during training and 5,709 controls with 6,302 samples at competitions. A total of 79 possible anti-doping rule violations were identified, of which 25 cases were sanctioned.