WADA-Funded Study Reveals Widespread Doping in Athletics

(ATR) The World Anti-Doping Agency will review the findings of a study that shows a high level of doping at two athletics championships in 2011 next month.

The study, commissioned and funded by WADA, found at least 30 percent of competitors at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea and at least 45 percent of athletes at the 2011 Pan-Arab Games in Doha, Qatar had used banned drugs within a year of the competitions.

Researchers from Germany’s University of Tuebingen and Harvard Medical School received responses from 2,168 of the 2,320 athletes they approached at the two competitions. A total of 5,187 athletes were accredited at the events.

Anonymity for answering sensitive questions was protected through what researchers called a "randomized response technique".

The results from the study are in stark contrast to the tiny percentages of positive doping tests in Daegu (0.5 percent) and Doha (3.6 percent).

The report’s conclusion was that doping "remains remarkably widespread among elite athletes, and remains largely unchecked despite current biological testing".

A WADA spokesperson tells Around the Rings that its Working Group on Prevalence will review the findings of the study and others like it when the panel meets next month.

"This study is an important step for the future in refining a tool to assess the prevalence of doping in sport," the spokesperson added. "Having a better understanding of the prevalence will allow us to more accurately evaluate the success of detection, deterrence and prevention programs."

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) says it "welcomes any research on the prevalence of doping".

"The AIU is in no doubt that the percentage of athletes doping in the sport of athletics is significantly above the number of adverse analytical findings currently reported in annual global anti-doping figures.

"As a newly-established body, the AIU is confident that as it builds its investigations and intelligence capability to complement its testing program, the Unit will be able to better detect doping and, ultimately, be able to narrow that gap."

The authors of the study said a nearly six year delay between data collection and the report’s release this week was "due to negotiations between WADA and the IAAF, and subsequently between the IAAF and the authors, regarding the authority to publish the results."

WADA says there were some questions about the methodology of the study and that an independent review was requested. Some information was clarified following the review.

The study was first published on the UK Parliament website in 2015.

Written by Gerard Farek

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