Two years ago the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) collected blood samples from all athletes taking part in the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Korea. That anti-doping programme which was conducted in close co-operation with the Lausanne WADA-accredited Anti-Doping Laboratory and with the support of the World Anti-Doping Agency and local partners was unprecedented in world sport history. It was the first time that nearly 2000 elite athletes competing in a major sports event were blood tested under the same optimal conditions, within the same time period.
Suspicious results from the screening analyses performed on-site could, where appropriate, trigger follow-up target tests in Moscow in urine (notably for EPO) and/or further analyses for prohibited substances or prohibited methods in blood in Lausanne.
All results can ultimately be used in support of an anti-doping rule violation if an athlete’s overall biological profile is found to be consistent with the use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method, in accordance with IAAF Anti-Doping Rules and Regulations.
500 urine samples
The blood testing programme in Moscow will be organised in addition to the regular doping controls that are collected at ever IAAF World Championships. Moscow 2013 will witness a programme of approximately 500 urine samples, in and out-of-competition combined. In accordance with the IAAF policy implemented for the first time in 2005 at the World Championships in Helsinki, urine samples collected in Moscow will be kept for long-term storage for possible re-analyses at a later stage in anticipation of new scientific developments.
Analytical process in Moscow supervised by IAAF experts
The Anti-doping laboratory which will be used to process samples at the World Championships is accredited by WADA, and has not only been used for many years for testing in athletics but will also handle samples collected at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. Nonetheless, as is usual at IAAF World Championships the testing process in Moscow will be carried out under additional IAAF control. All the analytical process in Moscow will be supervised onsite at the laboratory by IAAF scientific experts, Prof. Martial Saugy and Dr. Neil Robinson from the WADA-accredited Anti-Doping Laboratory in Lausanne.