The fight against doping at the Olympics is not restricted to the days of competition in Paris: it has been in the making for many months.
More than a thousand people will be testing some 4,000 athletes during the competition in a vast operation carried out by the International Testing Agency (ITA) and overseen by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
International Testing Agency at the helm
Created in 2018 and partly funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the ITA plans, organises and manages the results of anti-doping tests during the Games.
It was involved in Tokyo in 2021 and the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022, and will be in charge when the Olympic Village opens on or around July 18.
Since mid-April, the ITA has already had a hand in some of the tests and has been in contact with the international federations and national anti-doping agencies to target those to be tested.
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“If there are athletes doping, they’re going to do it before the Olympics, so the phase before the Olympics is very important,” an ITA spokesperson told AFP.
Qualifying for the Games ends late so prior to the Games, the ITA needs to keep an eye on all those who can secure a place -- almost 40,000 athletes out of the 10,000 who will make the cut.
At the Tokyo Games, 6,200 samples were taken from around 4,000 competitors: six came back positive.
Another six athletes failed doping tests in Beijing although the headlines were hogged by the case of the teenage Russian skater Kamila Valieva, whose positive test for trimetazidine a few weeks earlier was made public during the Games: she lost her team medal and was suspended for four years.
Who will be tested?
Testing is based on a number of criteria: ongoing monitoring, competitions, biological passports (which track an athlete’s biological markers over a period of time) and whistleblowers.
Certain disciplines, such as weightlifting, are targeted more.
An athlete will come more under the microscope if there is an unexpected and significant rise in his or her performance. A country where corruption is rife will be particularly tested.
Those who reach the podium or break records are systematically tested.
In all, the ITA expects to test some 4,000 of the 10,000 athletes present. The anti-doping authorities maintain that it is pointless testing everyone, saying it is better to target the tests.
Chinese swimmers, who were at the centre of revelations by German television channel ARD and the New York Times that they tested positive before the Tokyo Olympics without being punished, are being tested and monitored closely, according to an anti-doping source.
300 controllers and 800 chaperones
More than 300 doping control officers, a third of whom are French, will be deployed to collect the urine and blood samples: they will be coordinated by the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD).
The athletes being tested will be escorted by 800 volunteer ‘chaperones’.
The Paris organisers are responsible for “collecting the samples” and for the logistics, David Herbert, the organising committee’s anti-doping manager, told AFP.
In total, some 50 anti-doping stations have been installed at the Olympic venues and in the village.
The organisers are also responsible for transporting the samples to the laboratory in Orsay, south of Paris. This will be done by vehicle on the specially reserved Olympic routes and by plane from Tahiti, where the surfing is taking place.
Athletes who are not staying in the Olympic Village, such as the US basketball players, must give their location and are likely to see an anti-doping tester knocking on their hotel door.
Where are the samples tested?
The laboratory in Orsay will analyse the samples. In line with global anti-doping practices, genetic doping can now be detected.
WADA will observe the testing process and give feedback to the ITA.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport will open two temporary offices in Paris to resolve disputes, including those concerning doping.
In the run-up to the Olympics, WADA has come under scrutiny in the case of the Chinese swimmers after it accepted the explanation of Chinese authorities that the results were caused by food contamination.
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