The Paris Olympic Games have been over for three months. But for some athletes, the pain of disappointment is still raw. The report published this week by the International Testing Agency (ITA) could reignite some wounds.
This agency, in charge of the Games’ anti-doping program, reveals that 10.3% of athletes, or 1,108 Olympians, were not tested between January 1 and July 17, 2024. In total, adding athletes tested too rarely, 23.7% of athletes present in Paris were not tested in accordance with ITA recommendations.
This period of the last six months is however crucial: all anti-doping experts agree that cheaters doped especially before competitions. Moreover, only five positive cases were detected during the Olympics, while nearly 39% of athletes were tested.
This figure of 10.3% of untested athletes is, however, according to the ITA, “a significant improvement if we compare with the last six months before the Tokyo Olympics: between 14 and 15% of athletes had not not been tested. »
But; in a true exercise of transparency, the agency recognizes that there are inadequacies in the fight against doping. It even reveals that 67 medals were awarded to athletes who had not been tested even once in the last six months.
10 gold medalist handball players were not tested
There are five French people among them: three riders (silver medalists in the team eventing and bronze in the show jumping) and two silver medalist footballers. It should also be noted that 10 of the Norwegian handball players who won gold medals were not tested. That’s two-thirds of the team that beat France in the final.
Among the athletes who have not been tested, 32% nevertheless practice disciplines with a high risk of doping. Among these “risky” sports is swimming. Yet 18% of swimmers were not tested at all and 20% were not tested as much as expected. On the contrary, only 4% of road cyclists and 1% of triathletes have not been tested in the last six months of the Olympics. Overall, it was footballers and horse riders who escaped checks the most: 36% of them were not checked over this period. The risk of doping is considered “intermediate” by the ITA in football, and “low” in horse riding.
The ITA also offers a comparison by delegation. Among the large delegations, Australia appears to be a “bad student”, with 13% of its athletes not tested in the last six months, compared to 6% for France, 2% for Spain and even 0% for the Germany and the United States. New Zealand, which had the best Games in its history, with ten gold medals, is also singled out: only 51% of the athletes in its delegation were tested correctly. Among those who were not tested at all were four medalists, including gold medalists in rowing, a high-risk discipline.
However, it is in the small sporting nations, particularly in Africa, Oceania and South America, that controls have been less effective. In some countries, no athletes had been tested before the Games.
Make controls less predictable
The ITA is pleased, however, to see this number decrease: the number of countries where no tests have been done in the last six months has fallen from 38 to 15 between the 2021 and 2024 Olympics. The agency recognizes that there “still remain flaws in the testing programs”. According to the ITA, these must be improved to limit the number of athletes not tested or poorly tested, but also to make controls less predictable and collect more diverse samples.
The authors of the report recall, finally, that their recommendations are not, today, binding. For them, the World Anti-Doping Agency should be able to intervene more quickly in the event of non-compliance with the recommendations. Finally, they believe that compliance with these criteria could become an eligibility criterion for the Olympic Games. A clear message sent to the authorities, in particular to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
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