(Paris) Nearly 39% of athletes were tested during the Paris Olympics and five positive cases detected at this stage, the International Testing Agency (ITA), responsible for the anti-doping program during the Games, indicated on Thursday.
In total, 6,130 samples (urine, blood, dried blood) were taken, from 4,770 tests on 4,150 athletes, according to the ITA press release, which specifies that this is “the largest proportion” of athletes ever tested. These tests took place between the opening of the Olympic village in mid-July and the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games on August 11.
The ITA has carried out targeted tests, “nearly two-thirds” of which took place during the competition itself, and the rest outside. The countries most tested include the United States, France, China, Australia and Great Britain.
She also conducted a testing program several weeks before the Olympics, a high-risk period that meant that about 90% of the 10,000 or so participants in the Paris Olympics were tested at least once, she said. During that period, about forty anti-doping rule violations were recorded, she added.
At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, six cases of doping were detected.
Created in 2018 and partly funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the ITA plans, organizes and manages the results of doping controls during the Games. It has already worked in Tokyo in 2021 and in Beijing in 2022. It also manages the anti-doping program of the Tour de France and several sports disciplines.
At the Beijing Winter Games, the case of the young Russian skater Kamila Valieva, tested for trimetazidine before the Olympics and suspended for four years since, hit the headlines.