Anti-doping Norway and the Norwegian Ministry of Culture have come up with a solution that will hopefully get Norway out of the anti-doping crisis in the country's sports.
The reason is that Antidoping Norway has not drug tested young people between the ages of 15 and 18 in recent years, as since 2019 they are not allowed to be drug tested according to Norwegian law.
This is against the rules of the international anti-doping organization WADA.
The deadline for coming up with a solution to the problem is September 9, according to the Norwegian news agency NTB.
"Antidoping Norway (ADNO) has now produced a consent form, with a short response time, which special confederations and some top clubs are tasked with sending out to all guardians of underage elite athletes who are covered by Antidoping Norway's definition of top sports", writes the Norwegian Sports Confederation in a press release.
Can be punished
As soon as consent has been obtained, these will be forwarded to Antidoping Norway so that testing of underage athletes can start immediately.
If athletes do not have the consent of their guardians, those athletes will be penalized for anti-doping rule violations, in line with their sport's rules.
- Now we have worked all weekend to find a solution to obtain consent.
We have landed that now, and we are very, very happy about that, says Berit Kjöll, chairman of the Norwegian Sports Confederation, to NRK.
Consequences
The possibility of doping testing with parental consent is not new, but Norwegian regulations have meant that athletes in this age group have not been tested in practice for the past two years.
In the worst case, the consequence could be that Norwegian athletes are not allowed to participate in international championships, and that Norway cannot host international events.