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≡ VIOLATION REPORTS ≡
The World Anti-Doping Agency finally published its long-overdue “Anti-Doping Rule Violation Report” for 2021 and 2022 on Tuesday (22nd), detailing the number and type of doping samples which came back positive in some way.
As usual, the numbers were not huge, but still enough to be troubling. By posting two years at once, it’s possible to compare year-to-year; please remember that 2021 was still heavily influenced by Covid-19, but that competitions did resume. WADA has summary totals for all sports it has testing, but let’s look at just the Olympic sport results:
2021:
● 181,132 Summer Olympic sport samples
● 971 adverse findings (0.53%)
● 683 anti-doping violations (0.38%)
● 152 OK due to Therapeutic Use Exemptions
● 109 not pursued due to jurisdictional or other issues
● 22 pending cases
● 5 no sanction
2022:
● 192,393 Summer Olympic sport samples
● 1,173 adverse findings (0.61%)
● 849 anti-doping violations (0.44%)
● 198 OK due to Therapeutic Use Exemptions
● 55 not pursued due to jurisdictional or other issues
● 66 pending cases
● 5 no sanction
In terms of the sports with the highest number of doping issues, the usual suspects turned up again, but the doping incidence went up in 2022:
2021 anti-doping violations:
● 147: athletics (31,225 tests: 0.47%)
● 106: cycling (20,560 tests: 0.52%)
● 88: weightlifting (10,603 tests: 0.83%)
● 45: football (31,586 tests: 0.14%)
● 44: rugby (6,619 tests: 0.66%)
2022 anti-doping violations:
● 201: athletics (33,905 tests: 0.59%)
● 122: weightlifting (12,874 tests: 0.95%)
● 82: cycling (22,418 tests: 0.37%)
● 63: wrestling (6,845 tests: 0.92%)
● 61: football (33,499 tests: 0.18%)
The Winter Olympic sports had much few tests, of course, and many fewer violations, including on a percentage basis. The violations went down in 2022:
2021:
● 13,766 Winter Olympic sport samples
● 41 adverse findings (0.30%)
● 32 anti-doping violations
● 5 OK due to Therapeutic Use Exemptions
● 2 not pursued due to jurisdictional or other issues
● 2 pending cases
● 0 no sanction
2022:
● 17,183 Winter Olympic sport samples
● 47 adverse findings (0.27%)
● 25 anti-doping violations
● 12 OK due to Therapeutic Use Exemptions
● 8 not pursued due to jurisdictional or other issues
● 2 pending cases
● 0 no sanction
In terms of positive tests, in 2021 there were 12 in ice hockey, 11 in figure skating, one in speed skating and four each in biathlon and all of skiing. For 2022, the 25 violations include nine in ice hockey, seven in skiing, four each in bobsleigh/skeleton and all skating, and one in biathlon.
Russia was again at the top of the list of doping positives for 2021, but not 2022; these totals are for all sports tested by WADA and its associated agencies, not just Olympic and Winter Olympic-program sports:
2021 anti-doping violations:
● 1. 96: Russia
● 2. 62: Italy
● 3. 52: Brazil
● 4. 47: India
● 4. 47: Ukraine
The U.S. ranked ninth at 30; China was 15th with 21; Canada ranked 33rd (10).
2022 anti-doping violations:
● 1. 124: India (48 in athletics!)
● 2. 87: Russia
● 3. 71: Italy
● 4. 54: Kenya
● 5. 49: South Africa
The U.S. had 42 violations, ranking eighth; China was 17th at 22 and Canada was 23rd with 16.
There was also a section on non-analytical – investigative or whereabouts/sample refusal – findings, with 262 violations cases in 2021, topped by athletics (57), cycling (34) and weightlifting (32). Of the 262, 87 dealt with Russian athletes.
In 2022, the number of non-analytical cases went down to 245, headed by athletics (48), then cycling (38) and weightlifting (25), with bodybuilding – a non-Olympic sport – at 36. Russia had 77 of these, with 20 in athletics and 18 in weightlifting.
Observed: WADA explained the long delay in publishing these reports this way:
“As a matter of course, ADRV Reports are published later as processing ADRV cases is complex and labor-intensive, requiring extensive dialogue with the relevant results management authorities and other stakeholders. The 2023 Report will be published by the end of 2025.”
These 2021 and 2022 reports are way too late and the 2023 report should be released as soon as possible, in order to offer more trend analyses. Doping went up in 2022, that’s clear and India’s 124 violations are alarming.
In 2022, the statistics show just 0.61% of the samples showed a violation from the more than 192,000 samples collected that year. Not a lot. But translate that to the 1,053 top-three placings in the 351 events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games and you have 6.4 placements impacted by doping.
Still too many. Let’s see what the 2023 and 2024 numbers say, as soon as possible.
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