FINA: 1,427 Out-Of-Competition Anti-Doping Tests Conducted In 2016

FINA has released some data on its out of competition anti-doping testing program this week, showing that almost 1500 unannounced tests have been carried out so far in 2016 – more than were conducted in all of 2015.

Inside The Games reports that the figures released serve as a response to several public calls for FINA to increase its out-of-competition anti-doping tests.

Out of Competition tests shouldn’t be confused with In Competition tests.

Out of competition tests are unannounced tests – athletes with high enough world rankings to qualify for FINA’s testing pool are required to fill out whereabouts information letting doping control agents know where to find them during a one-hour period each day. When an athlete is selected for an out of competition test, doping control agents find the athlete during that one-hour period to collect a sample – typically of urine or blood, for the newer “athlete biological passport” testing programs.

In competition tests refer to tests carried out at meets.

The numbers FINA released track only out of competition testing for 2016, which is less than halfway done at this point.

FINA’s numbers, compared to figures on its website for 2015, show 1,427 out of competition tests carried out in 2016. That’s more than the 1,332 tests carried out in all of 2015. FINA also reported 1,030 in competition tests in 2015.

FINA also breaks the numbers down by sport and nationality. Swimming has accounted for 1,022 of the 1,427 tests. The four most-tested countries are Russia (226), China (201), the United States (92) and Brazil (91).

You can view the full FINA press release below:

Since the start of 2016, FINA has conducted 1,427 unannounced out-of-competition anti-doping tests on 678 athletes.
A test mission on an athlete may consist of various examinations and analyses: urine sample, blood sample for athlete passport, blood sample for other blood analysis (e.g Blood Transfusion CERA, HBOCs, Growth Hormone, etc).

More than 45% of the 1,427 unannounced out-of-competition anti-doping tests were blood & urine missions.

Summary per major country*            Summary per sport

BRA: 91                                                 Diving: 74
CHN: 201                                              Open Water: 96
RUS: 226                                               Synchro: 72
USA: 92                                                 Swimming: 1’022
Water Polo: 163

In partnership with national anti-doping agencies, FINA continues to test the 10 best-performing athletes in each event in swimming and this programme will continue until the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

After the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, this robust anti-doping programme will continue in the run-up to the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) to take place in Windsor (CAN) in December 2016.

Since the beginning of 2016, FINA has already invested around USD one million in its unannounced out-of-competition testing programme. As world governing body for Aquatics, FINA undertakes a strong and robust policy in order to optimise the efficacy of our anti-doping strategies; to preserve the validity and integrity of FINA competitions; and to protect the clean athletes in the five continents.

You can find more detailed statistics on these numbers – broken down month-by-month and showing specific athletes who were tested – on the FINA website here.