Paris Olympics anti-doping program found almost 50 cases with more likely to come

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The anti-doping program for the Paris Olympics caught five athletes after earlier finding 40 rule violations among competitors who had been expected to take part in the Games, the agency that ran the operation said Thursday.

Summing up its Olympic program, the International Testing Agency said 6,130 samples were collected during the Games period in July-August from 4,150 different athletes. The samples were of urine, blood and dried blood spot.

Taking samples from almost 39% of the athletes was “a 4% increase compared to Tokyo 2020 and 10% higher than Rio 2016,” the ITA said. The most tested nations were those with the biggest teams in Paris: the United States, France, China, Australia and Britain.

The agency said nearly 90% of athletes who took part were tested at least once before the Paris Summer Games opened.

“The ITA can also report over 40 anti-doping rule violations stemming from the testing activities implemented on behalf of its partners ahead of the Games pertaining to athletes who were likely due to participate,” it said.

The Games-time samples, plus selected ones from the pre-Games testing program, will now be stored for 10 years. They can be opened and re-analyzed when better tests are developed and new intelligence emerges.

The five positive tests in Paris came from two cases in judo and one each in track and field, aquatics and boxing. The substances involved were anabolic steroids and a diuretic.

The athletes, from Afghanistan, Bolivia, Congo, Iraq and Nigeria, were removed ahead of their event or had their results disqualified. Disciplinary cases are now being prosecuted, typically by their sport’s governing body.

The ITA was created by the International Olympic Committee in 2016 to bring more independence to global anti-doping and manage testing programs on behalf of sports bodies.