Has the coronavirus pandemic breached the anti-doping system? WADA boss Witold Banka promises not, despite the decision of Canada and Russia to suspend their tests because of the Covid-19 and that of the British anti-doping agency (UKAD) to restrict them. For Banka, the pandemic should not be "an opportunity to cheat for athletes".
"Tests are not the only weapon we have, we have others, powerful," said Wiltold Banka in a telephone interview from his home in Poland. "There is the athlete's biological passport, there is the long-term analysis of samples and intelligence," said the man who was elected in November to succeed Briton Craig Reedie as head of WADA. .
"The biological passport is a useful tool for establishing the profile (hematological and endocrinological) of athletes," said the former Polish Minister of Sport. With this tool, top athletes "are obliged to tell us where they are even if we cannot go and test them," he said.
The fight against doping, not a priority right now
“They should not imagine that this is an opportunity to cheat. If necessary, anti-doping agencies will deploy their weapons to catch them, "he said. The former Polish Sports Minister, 35, nevertheless stressed that in the current context, the fight against doping was not the most important while the new coronavirus has killed more than 73,000 people worldwide.
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- Doping
- Sport
- Covid 19
- Coronavirus