LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The Paris Olympics’ anti-doping program has arrested five athletes after finding 40 rule violations among competitors scheduled to take part in the Games, the Health Ministry said. The agency that led the operation said THURSDAY.
The International Drug Control Agency said 6,130 samples were collected during the Games period in July and August from 4,150 different athletes. These included urine, blood and dried blood spots.
The sampling of nearly 39% of athletes represents “a 4% increase compared to Tokyo 2020 and 10% compared to Rio 2016,” the ITA said. The countries most tested were those with the largest teams in Paris: the United States, France, China, Australia and Great Britain.
The agency said nearly 90% of athletes who participated were tested at least once before the Paris Summer Games opened.
“The ITA can also report more than 40 anti-doping rule violations arising from testing activities carried out on behalf of its partners prior to the Games involving athletes who were likely to participate in the Games,” it said.
Samples collected during the Games, as well as those selected during the pre-Games testing programme, will now be stored for 10 years. They can be opened and re-analysed when better tests are developed and new information becomes available.
THE five positive tests in Paris The results come from two cases in judo, one case in athletics, one case in aquatic sports and one case in boxing. The substances involved were anabolic steroids and a diuretic.
The athletes, who hail from Afghanistan, Bolivia, Congo, Iraq and Nigeria, were expelled before their events or had their results annulled. Disciplinary cases are now pending, usually by their sport’s governing body.
The ITA was created by the International Olympic Committee in 2016 to bring greater independence to the global fight against doping and to manage testing programmes on behalf of sporting bodies.
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