The National Anti Doping Agency of Germany (NADA) carried out an extensive testing programme in the run-up to the Olympic Games in Tokyo (Japan). Only athletes who were included in a NADA Germany test pool at least six months before the opening of the Olympic Village (July 13, 2021) in accordance with the NADA Germany standard for doping controls and investigations could be nominated. For this reason, the respective national federations named their potential Olympic participants again in January 2021. The horses that were eligible for nomination and participation were also reported to NADA Germany at an early stage so that they could carry out medication controls in advance.
Despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pre-Olympic testing programme ran at the usual high level. Since mid-January 2021, NADA Germany has carried out 1,420 controls [2,274 samples: 1,416 urine and 858 blood samples] in training and competition of the 438 nominated German Olympic participants. Here, athletes from sports in the highest risk category were checked up to six times at the top.
In addition, samples from all Olympic participants were transferred to long-term storage and can be analysed again until 2031. The assignment of special further analysis and the systematic evaluation of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) in accordance with the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) were also part of the comprehensive preparation by NADA.
NADA Germany also implemented the control recommendations of the Pre-Games Expert Group, which nominated 234 top German athletes for targeted tests.
As part of the entire pre-Olympic testing programme, NADA Germany carried out 3,252 controls [4,769 samples: 3,271 urine and 1,498 blood samples], based on 1,430 potential candidates for Tokyo who had been selected by the federations at the beginning of the year.
In addition, the German athletes were checked by the relevant international federations and the International Testing Agency (ITA). The coordination with NADA went smoothly. With the opening of the Olympic Village, the ITA took over control activities on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and will continue to do so until the end of the Games.
WADA's internationally recognized ADEL e-learning system for the Olympic Games has been translated into German. A WADA course that has been specially developed for this target group and translated by NADA is also available for medical care personnel. This gave the Olympic participants a comprehensive range of information for the Tokyo Games.
The control activities of NADA Germany in cooperation with the German Disabled Sports Association in preparation for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo (August 24 to September 5, 2021) will be published at a later date.
*All figures are subject to change
