MELBOURNE – The World Anti-Doping Company says the COVID-19 pandemic could have harmed the struggle for clear sport and that “additional targeted testing” was being deliberate to remove gaps as competitors resumes. Athletes have expressed concern about reductions in testing for banned substances and urged readability from authorities in regards to the validity of check outcomes through the international sports activities shutdown. WADA, in a Q+A (right here) doc for athletes posted on its web site late on Monday, stated it was monitoring carefully the place ranges of testing had been lowered altogether. It additionally stated it was in shut contact with anti-doping organisations to seek out the very best methods of being efficient throughout this era. “When the sporting landscape returns to a certain normality, these ‘gaps’ in testing will be addressed cooperatively through additional targeted testing especially given that intelligence-gathering and investigations continue,” WADA stated. “Placing public health above the needs of the anti-doping system means that there may be impacts on the fight against doping in sport. “However, there is significantly less training being carried out and significantly fewer competitions taking place.” WADA stated doping management samples continued to be saved for future evaluation and, with the assistance of the athlete organic passport, some samples collected post-COVID-19 would possibly reveal doping that occurred through the shutdown interval. “WADA is also evaluating what has worked well and what has proved challenging for anti-doping in these unprecedented times,” the company added. “To that end, WADA is establishing a ‘strategic testing’ working group in order to learn from this experience and see how the anti-doping system may be strengthened further by this experience.”
