Anti-doping tests go virtual as the campaign to stop cheating adapts to a worldwide pandemic
Covid-19 presents dilema for anti-doping programs
SHOWS: COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, UNITED STATES.
(APRIL 16.
2020)(REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 1.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) UNITED STATES ANTI-DOPING COMMISSIONER TRAVIS TYGART "Importantly it's a pilot project and we're going to push the program and reinvent ourselves during this crisis but hopefully get some long term winnings and understandings from this project that untimately may have really good impact on the future of antidoping around the world.
2.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) UNITED STATES ANTI-DOPING COMMISSIONER TRAVIS TYGART "On this particular project we're collaborating with Germany, with Norway, we've heard from some others.
We've talked to Canada.
We are going to have a session with some of the other NADAS around the world and we'll see if hopefully some others can roll this out as well and we'll see if ultimately it has larger impact but look I think we're all realistic and clean athletes are going to compete clean and there are athletes that when fully operational programs are in place, we saw it with Russia's state sponsored doping, we saw it in the Postal Services case some will go to great lengths to try to defeat the system and so that is a little bit easier unfortunately.
3.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) UNITED STATES ANTI-DOPING COMMISSIONER TRAVIS TYGART "Hopefully when we get restarted from a testing standpoint that we can catch up and we'll have indication if anyone has tried to take advantage of this.
Of course our intelligence and whistleblower lines are operating full capacity and we will be following up and investigating those that we get information on during this time period so no one should think they have a free pass during this time period but we also need to be realistic that significant reduction in testing and in some places the shut off in testing has created a serious concern for the few folks out there who would have gone to the lengths they would have gone to in order to defeat the system." STORY: The effort to keep sport clean from illegal doping has been challenged with the new reality of quarantine and social distancing in the era of Covid-19.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has rolled out a doping test in which athletes self-administer urine and blood tests while being monitored live by a doping control officer via FaceTime or Zoom applications.
The virtual urine test, for example, allows for privacy during collection but the athlete must scan the bathroom with a video camera to prove they are alone and cannot use a sample supplied by an accomplice.
A temperature strip dipped into the urine sample on camera will reveal if the sample is fresh.
The athlete then presses a blood collection device into his or her arm to get a test ample.
They then seal the blood or urine sample in a tamper proof vial while being monitored by the USADA agent.
The test kit is then shipped to a USADA lab for final analysis.
"It's a pilot project and we're going to push the program and reinvent ourselves during this crisis but hopefully get some long term winnings and understandings from this project that ultimately may have really good impact on the future of antidoping around the world." Marquee athletes Katie Ledecky and Noah Lyles are currently participating in the virtual testing which Tagart stresses is a voluntary program at the moment.
He said that the vast shut off in testing during the first few weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic was a "serious concern" but standard measures like whistleblower lines are still operational and athletes should not expect to get a free pass if they resorted to cheating the system.
Many athletes also have biological passports which is a compilation of tests and results collated over time which can indicate abnormalities caused by cheating.