Russian Sports minister Vitaly Mutko has demanded that the 55 positive tests that resulted from an IOC program to re-test doping control samples from the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games be thrown out, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Mutko’s demand was not on the basis of objection to the retesting policy; rather, his demand came after “B” samples from 2 Russian athletes came back clean, even after the “A” samples showed adverse analytical findings.
When doping control samples are taken, they are divided into two samples: an “A” and a “B” sample, so that if the initial tests on the “A” sample come back showing a positive test for a banned substance, the athlete can request that their “B” sample be tested to verify the result.
While it’s very rare historically for the “B” sample to come back with a different result than the “A” sample, the Russian Olympic Committee announced on Friday that “B” samples from race walker Denis Nizhegorodov and rower Alexander Kornilov, both collected at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, came back negative, meaning they didn’t have any banned substances in them.
“The 2008 samples are being rechecked but no explanations have been given about why precisely these samples are undergoing a recheck. Two B samples out of them subsequently turn out to produce a negative result. Under the WADA Code, a laboratory that has erroneously determined a sample positive result must be deprived of accreditation while all the samples it checked should be recognized as invalid,” Mutko said.
“Is someone doing this? No, no one is doing this,” the Russian sports minister said.
The “A” and “B” samples were both tested by the WADA-accredited laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland.
In total, 55 samples re-tested from the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games came back with adverse analytical results (which means they were positive for banned substances) when tested this year by the IOC. The IOC has not released the names, sports, or nationalities of any of those whose samples tested positive, but the Russian sports machine has released several pieces of information relevant to their athletes. Russia has indicated that none of the 22 positive retests on “A” samples were swimmers.
WADA should suspend all the labs in the world and just train drug sniffing dogs. They can be behind the starting blocks waiting pounce.
Is it possible that suspect chemicals could break down over time in the sample?
Chicherova (who was criticised here on SWSW when she challenged the positive) has had her London sample return negative. So far a 6% error rate.
That just isn’t good enough. They really need to have a look at their protocols. The continuity and integrity of evidence must be maintained just as in a criminal investigation. I’ve heard of athletes not having faith in how heir sample are handled before. For someone t be falsely accused is wrong, for someone who is guilty to get away with it because of some internal problem is even worse.
Is there any independent confirmation of these allegations? Or is this just more propaganda/spin from the Russian Sports Federation? This seems like “who cares” until the IOC/WADA make a definitive decision on the matter. Given the Russian sports track record of late, better to wait until the details are released.
Interesting. I know nothing about the protocols, but I didn’t realize that if the results conflicted that all these tests were to be thrown out? Seems crazy to me that 53 out 55 B samples proved to remain tainted and these are all to be dismissed.
If you had 500 cancer FNA analyses done & 54 positives & If they went to another analyst & spectrometer & 2 came up negative -this is a 4% margin of error. Not acceptable for any medical or forensic test .
I wonder if they check a series of chemical markers to confirm that both the a and b samples are actually the same (they would have the same amount of sugars, hormones, etc)? What if some of the b samples are not from the same source? Also, if the a sample was just barely over the limit and the b sample just under the limit with the same dopant, then that person is guilty imo
Russia knows exactly what is going on . WADA has to hope there are only 2 – but who is going to believe the results now ? Do they have a C sample?