As a result of the corona pandemic, the number of doping tests at the elite level fell by as much as 42 percent in 2020, according to figures from Anti-Doping Sweden, which SVT was informed of.

In 2019, a total of 3796 tests were conducted at the elite level and in 2020 only 2208.

The Swedish swimmer Michelle Coleman, who is being tested by both the international swimming federation Fina and Anti-Doping Sweden, has herself noticed a marked difference.

Six months without tests

In a normal year, she is tested about 15 times, but in 2020 there were only 2-3 tests.

- Until March, everything was as usual, but after that it stopped almost immediately.

Then it was basically a break for 6-7 months at least, Coleman says to SVT Sport.

Despite the fact that the number of tests fell sharply last year, Coleman trusts Anti-Doping Sweden and feels confident that they are doing their best based on the conditions.

- I can understand that the number of tests is falling and it is very boring.

But it has been a very strange year and everyone has had to adapt, including sports, says Coleman.

"Exciting to see how people perform"

- Now the testing is running again and you have found safe routines, but it took a little time before you got into these routines and I can understand that.

But I think it's sad that it's going to be like that.

Because it is important that everyone is doping tested and that it is kept going.

She is more worried that doping may have increased in other countries.

- I have unfortunately got the feeling that it has been a year with a little too much freedom and the opportunity to dope has probably been easy, I would think.

Many have trained in isolated bubbles and it is not known how the local doping organizations have handled it.

It will be exciting to see how people perform when everything starts to start on a normal roll again.

CLIP: See the whole feature here

Javascript is disabled

Javascript must be turned on to play video

Read more about browser support

The browser is not supported

SVT does not support playback in your browser.

We therefore recommend that you switch to another browser.

Read more about browser support

See the full feature on the reduced number of doping tests