Despite further improvements, the pre-Olympic anti-doping program sometimes had significant shortcomings. This is the conclusion reached by the International Testing Agency (ITA) in its final report.
According to the latter, 10.3% of athletes were not tested at all during the 6 months preceding the Paris Olympic Games, including 67 future medalists. “The testing program remains incomplete”concluded the ITA.
Recommendations have been followed in some areas, but improvements are needed, particularly regarding predictability and breadth of testing. Before the 2021 Tokyo Games, almost 15% of athletes had not been tested. The number of tests carried out in the 6 months preceding the Games had increased by 45% compared to the previous 6 months. According to experts, testing is especially useful during this time.
Swimming in the lead
Among the 14 high-risk sports classified by the ITA, swimming is the lowest performer. Nearly 20% of participants were not tested in the 6 months preceding the Paris Olympics. However, all medalists have been tested at least once.
In total, 31,896 tests were carried out on 10,720 athletes. So far, 5 cases of doping have been recorded during these last Games. All samples were frozen for later analysis.
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