Athletics has introduced new "anti-doping program"

In recent months, the national team department, together with the medical committee, has been working on a new program to improve the association's work on doping. In April, TT wrote that the union had submitted a first draft of the new program and now the board has approved the program which has now been implemented.

- They have supported the revised program but some writing needs to be sped up a bit and become clearer. But the program is up and running and we have communicated it to the elite practitioners, says the Swedish Athletics Association's secretary general Stefan Olsson to SVT Sport.

The main purpose of the program is to give the athletics association more control over those who do not exercise in Sweden. Extra large control is required when active athletes are to train in countries that do not have a well-functioning anti-doping work, according to the International Athletics Association World Athletics.

Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco, Belarus, Nigeria and Bahrain are countries that sports should avoid.

- There is no prohibition on going there, but we really need to know where the athletes are, how long they should be there, with which training group they train and with which coach and manager, says Stefan Olsson.

Athletes who go to these countries may be tested for doping more often.

- It may be that we contact Swedish anti-doping so that they can add extra resources before, during and after these trips.

The program applies to all Swedish athletes at the elite level.

- We have not specified exactly every thing in the program, but we should have a better track of the activists who leave, regardless of the branch or whether the athlete has a Swedish or foreign background.

In addition, the Athletics Association will review the use of supplements and hope to also minimize any problems due to language deprivation.

- We must ensure that all the information that is available and that we give also reaches out. That the athletes understand what they got for information, we also have a job to do.

Four of Swedish athletics' most recent doping cases are foreign-born long-distance runners with a foreign background. Robel Fsiha, who came to Sweden as a refugee from Eritrea in 2013, is currently being investigated for doping crimes. Adil Bouafif (from Morocco) tested positive for epo 2014, Ababa Aregawi (Ethiopia) tested positive for meldonium 2016 (but was later released due to ambiguity about the rules) and Meraf Bahta (Eritrea) was suspended for one year after three misses in stay reporting 2018 .

The new program will ensure that the union spends its resources on things.

- In the 1980s, perhaps it would be Swedish throwers who went to the United States on which we would put a great deal of powder. This is a way to try to direct our resources to where we think they are most useful, says Olsson.