Joint press conference of AFLD, ITA, NADA Austria, NADA Germany

The Agence Française de Lutte contre le Dopage (AFLD), the International Testing Agency (ITA), the National Anti-Doping Agency Austria (NADA Austria) and the National Anti Doping Agency of Germany (NADA Germany) invited journalists to a joint press conference at the German House on July 28, 2024 with the support of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB).

International cooperation is particularly important in order to promote global harmonization of anti-doping work. This is why the anti-doping organizations work closely together. Jérémy Roubin (AFLD), Benjamin Cohen (ITA), Michael Cepic (NADA Austria) and Eva Bunthoff (NADA Germany) presented the anti-doping work before and during the Olympic Games.

Pre-Olympic anti-doping program

Education was also the focus of the anti-doping organizations during the preparations for the Olympic Games in Paris. Athletes were trained and informed at workshops, information booth as well as via special e-learning programs. 

A targeted testing program complemented the education anti-doping measures. The so-called Pre-Games Expert Group, consisting of intentional anti-doping experts from NADA Germany, USADA, CHINADA and World Athletics, drew up recommendations for the implementation of the anti-doping program for the Olympic Games in Paris under the leadership of the ITA. In order to develop the recommendations, adjustments to previous risk assessments prior to the Olympic Games were identified, information such as doping history of the participating countries, the doping history of the Olympic sports/disciplines and other information from the various countries was collected and potential testing gaps were identified.

AFLD, ITA, NADA Austria and NADA Germany have organized an extensive testing programme in the run-up to the Olympic Games in Paris. Unannounced and unpredictable tests are an important part of targeted anti-doping work, both in the immediate run-up and in the long-term preparations. AFLD, NADA Austria and NADA Germany have tested their national athletes before the games, additionally the ITA has performed tests on athletes for different international federations ahead of Paris. For all these samples, the necessary additional analyses were carried out, analysis data from the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) was evaluated and samples were transferred to long-term storage.

The results of the worldwide pre-Olympic testing program have been compiled by the ITA under the following link: ita.sport/news/the-ita-concludes-paris-2024-pre-games-anti-doping-program-reports-that-close-to-90-of-athletes-were-tested-at-least-once-ahead-of-olympics/

Olympic anti-doping program

With the opening of the Olympic Village on July 18, 2024, the ITA took over the anti-doping program in Paris on behalf of the IOC and in cooperation with the AFLD. For the first time, there is a Doping Control Coordination Center (DCCC) in Paris, which is staffed by international anti-doping experts from various NADOs, as well NADA Germany. The task of the DCCC is the implementation of the ITA Test Distribution Plan and allocating and managing sample collection personnel on field.

Overview of NADA Germany test figures

The 429 Olympic participants were tested 1,176 times. A total of 1,779 samples (1,173 urine samples, 584 blood samples and 22 Dried Blood Spot samples) were taken. The 44 substitute athletes were also tested 103 times.