"We can give an important signal to the Olympic participants: The pre-Olympic testing program could be completed at a high level. This is primarily thanks to all those involved in the doping control process, who implemented the extensive hygiene and infection control measures and reacted quickly and flexibly to the constantly changing pandemic situation," said Dr. Andrea Gotzmann, Chairperson of the Executive Board of the National Anti Doping Agency of Germany (NADA Germany).
Based on 572 potential candidates notified to NADA Germany by the German Winter Sports Federations in July 2021 for the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, NADA Germany conducted 1,146 tests [1,436 samples: 1,146 urine and 290 blood samples] throughout the pre-Olympic testing program.
For the 150 German Olympic athletes now nominated, NADA Germany has conducted 486 tests [664 samples: 484 urine and 180 blood samples] in training and competition since July 2021. "It is important to NADA Germany that we not only consider the quantity of doping controls, but also exhaust all possibilities in terms of quality," Gotzmann explained: "Therefore, samples from all Olympic participants have been transferred to long-term storage and can be analysed again until 2031 or 2032. The commissioning of special analyses and the systematic evaluation of the Athlete Biological Passport in accordance with the specifications of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), were also part of our comprehensive preparation."
"For the global harmonisation of pre-Olympic testing programs, recommendations for the implementation of the pre-Olympic testing program are made by an international group of experts. We consider it essential that athletes competing in Beijing were subjected to this minimum standard of doping tests before the Games," says Gotzmann. For 126 German athletes selected by the Pre-Games Expert Group, NADA Germany implemented the international recommendations.
In addition, the German athletes were tested by the respective International Federations and the International Testing Agency (ITA). With the opening of the Olympic Village, the ITA took over the testing activities in Beijing on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and will continue them until the end of the Games.
On WADA's internationally recognized e-learning platform ADEL, the course for the Olympic Games was translated into German and was also considered a comprehensive information tool in advance for Beijing.
"With the athletes as the main protagonists of our work, we want to continue our dialogue on the various anti-doping issues. For this purpose, we have launched the new campaign "LET'S TALK ABOUT" for the Winter Olympics, in order to focus especially on the important values of sport," Gotzmann explained.
NADA Germany's control activities in cooperation with the National Paralympic Committee Germany in preparation for the Paralympic Games in Beijing, will be published at a later date.
