(ATR) The World Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended the Rio de Janeiro anti-doping lab for not conforming to international standards.
According to the provisional suspension, which began on June 22, the laboratory will be unable to test samples for six months, or until the suspension is lifted. The lab may appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 21 days.
International media reported that repeated "procedural errors" were the reason for the suspension, including a number of false positives from the lab. Requests for clarification from WADA were not returned.
A statement from the Brazilian Anti-Doping Agency (ABCD) said, "[we] reiterate the importance of the Laboratório Brasileiro de Controle de Dopagem, in conducting doping control tests at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and as a technical-scientific legacy in the fight against doping in sport."
"ABCD trusts the work done by the laboratory, with over 2,500 tests conducted since its inauguration, and is confident that the institution will take all the necessary procedures for the provisional measure imposed as a prevention by WADA, to be reviewed as soon as possible," the statement continued.
ABCD national secretary Marco Aurelio Klein told Around the Rings he had no more comment on the matter.
The 2016 Olympics Games will begin in 42 days, meaning samples from the Games will have to be tested abroad unless a solution is reached quickly. The Rio lab only received its accreditation in July 2015, and began testing samples ahead of the 2016 Games.
In a statement, incoming WADA Director General Olivier Niggli said that the body is working with the Rio lab to "resolve the identified issue," and that all untested samples in the lab will be tested promptly after secure transfer to an accredited lab.
If the lab were to be suspended during the Olympic Games, it would mark the second straight large sporting event in Brazil without a domestic WADA-accredited lab. During the 2014 World Cup, samples were tested at a lab in Lausanne, after the Rio de Janeiro lab’s accreditation was revoked in August 2013.
Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro
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