Completion of the Dried Blood Spot-Remote Research Project

A six-month pilot project to further develop the testing programme has been completed. The research project to look at further possible uses of the Dried Blood Spot technique had been initiated by the National Anti Doping Agency of Germany (NADA Germany) together with the Institute of Biochemistry at the German Sport University Cologne and the company Sportradar at the end of 2021.
 
A total of 24 athletes from the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) from various sports such as bobsleigh, fencing, football, weightlifting, cycling, luge, rowing, triathlon, skiing and volleyball took part over the entire project period. Among them were participants of the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (China) in February 2022. 102 Dried Blood Spot samples were taken in total. Six athletes ended their participation prematurely without giving a reason.
 
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were serious contact restrictions and numerous cancelled competitions in sport. From NADA Germany's point of view, it is important to break new ground in anti-doping work and to look for solutions to the challenges of a pandemic. The aim of the project was to test solutions for the implementation of the testing programme with the help of digitalisation. A new technical remote testing solution in the form of an app was developed for the collection of the Dried Blood Spot samples, which was successfully used in practice for the first time. The increase in the frequency of testing by means of Dried Blood Spot testing with a simultaneous reduction of direct contact between testing personnel and athletes could thus be ensured. The participating athletes rated the new approach positively and see remote testing as a suitable complementary measure to classical doping tests. Furthermore, different sealing techniques were used, which were evaluated by the athletes in their handling.
 
Substantively, the research project also dealt with the analytical possibilities of the Dried Blood Spot samples for detecting possible manipulations, e.g. due to contamination or acts of sabotage, in order to better protect clean athletes from unjustified doping accusations. The possible detection of manipulation through Dried Blood Spot samples was perceived as a safety factor by athletes.
 
NADA Germany will bring the results of the research project into the current consultation phase for the International Standard for Testing and Investigations (ISTI) 2023 at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in order to also enable the possibility of remote sampling as a supplementary tool in the future. Currently, remote testing is not part of the anti-doping regulation and is therefore not justiciable.