2024 Olympics in Paris: Doping controls are patchy

Clean summer games? Realists respond to this beautiful illusion with a smug smile. You’re right. Just in time for the start of the new year, the Spanish online sports magazine “Relevo” accuses the Spanish Anti-Doping Agency (CELAD) of not treating test results appropriately. Accordingly, messages about positive doping tests were only sent to affected athletes after 365 days, just after the statute of limitations had expired.

Exemptions for the use of banned substances have been backdated. In addition, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) did not punish this or that violation of the rules despite sufficient opportunity. WADA did not address this allegation in a statement, but confirmed that there are “a number of outstanding corrective actions that need to be urgently addressed by CELAD.” Otherwise, a compliance procedure will be initiated.

No complete protocol

Whether this is due to sloppiness, an overwhelmed organization or even intent is not important for the time being. Because the cause does not change the result: top athletes are apparently running around in areas that should be banned, even in countries with a claim to a reputable anti-doping system.

This finding is not entirely new. But it again dampens the hope that, at least in Europe and in a few countries on other continents, the arduous fight against manipulation would make progress little by little thanks to increasing professionalization. In individual cases that may be true. In terms of the world, however, there are huge gaps in investigations and information.

The number of recognized laboratories is far too small. And the testing history of an athlete from Germany, the USA, Africa, India or China in the year before the Olympics usually remains a secret because there is no answer to the question of where and how he was tested on his world tour.

Post-tests of limited importance

Only a complete protocol would provide information about whether someone could have used a phase for a manipulation cycle without checking. Most forms of doping, for example with anabolic steroids, begin long before the competitions, when they are supposed to be effective because they reduce the regeneration time and allow greater training volumes. Only the stupidest still carry traces of evidence during their competitions.

That’s why the follow-up tests commissioned by the International Olympic Committee are of limited importance, despite all the risks for manipulators. For the London Games, the procedure ended when the statute of limitations expired: 73 were subsequently disqualified, 31 medals were withdrawn, including eight Olympic champions torn from their plinths. If it had been exposed during the games, there would have been movement in the Olympic Village – with an average of around five expulsions per day of competition.

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It is pointless to think about the number of unreported cases. Even the Summer Games in Paris will not provide more light on this topic, despite the expected splendor. This is also because controls on Russians, Belarusians and, yes, Ukrainians have been rather difficult recently. Her history urges caution. The follow-up tests in London gave the three countries a total of 39 positive cases out of 73. However, these facts should not obscure the obvious, as the case in Spain proves.