The National Anti-Doping Agency in Germany has stopped publishing names of athletes sanctioned for doping, including swimmers, according to a report in the German sports magazine Sportschau.
The report said that NADA compiles statistics once a year, usually in June, which lists the number of positive doping tests in Germany. But due to data protection risks, the names of the dopers haven’t been released.
The report said that some of the names not released are believed to be swimmers.
When asked about known cases, NADA admitted facts and named dopers to media, according to the report.
Otherwise, NADA didn’t publicly name dopers on its own accord.
The World Anti-Doping Code requires the publication of legally concluded cases, with the doper and other details being named.
But NADA cites legal risks for not doing so.
Chairman Lars Mortsiefer said the organization is “committed to transparency, traceability and valid decisions in an important area of anti-doping work. However, this currently conflicts with applicable data protection law.”
The North Rhine-Westphalia State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, which is responsible for NADA, more than five years ago launched a still ongoing investigation that was initiated by a cyclist fighting against the publication of sanctioned decisions.
According to a preliminary assessment of data protection authorities, publicizing personal information isn’t permissible due to there being no legal basis for it.
Athletes have come out in support of having names released, according to the report.
“I think deterrence itself is important because other athletes need to be aware that if you do something illegal, you will be punished,” said Georg Fleischauer, a world champion bobsledder in 2023. “And if that’s no longer the case at some point, then everyone will think, ‘Okay, it’s not so bad. In the worst case, nothing bad will happen. I’ll be out for a few months and then I’ll be back.’ And I don’t think that should be allowed to happen.”
At last summer’s Paris Olympics, Germany won three medals in swimming. Lukas Martens won gold in the men’s 400 freestyle, Oliver Klemet won silver in the men’s open water 10km and Isabel Gose won bronze in the women’s 1500 freestyle.
This is typical of society today. Create bureaucrat jobs and tell them to run these quasi organizations to run international sports and have a fair competition. Put them in power and they essentially do nothing but collect a salary.
Any German swimmers likely to be on this list?
WADA needs to get with the program.
The Code is supposed to help insure athletes around the world follow the same rules and are held to the same standards. That includes Germany.
The apparent collusion here is really quite stunning — on second thought, no, not really stunning at all – more like business as usual???? Don’t know.
Nah this is garbage. Germans can’t have their cake and eat it too. If you want to have domestic laws for privacy, fine. But if it goes against WADA or other international codes, you shouldn’t be allowed into international competition. Same for any other country
Why isn’t this showing on the main news pages?
I thought there would be more comments
Not Russian or China enough for the Yanks!
Boo!
One or two Germans. Hundreds of Chinese and Russians. And systematic.
Uh oh