The International Athletics Federation has called for stricter anti-doping controls from the federations of Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Portugal between now and the Paris Olympics, following advice from the Integrity Unit of the athletics (AIU).
In a report published Monday, the AIU welcomed the overall improvement in the situation on the anti-doping front between the period preceding the World Championships in Eugene (United States), in 2022, and that preceding the World Championships in Budapest last summer.
However, the organization recalls in a press release that Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Portugal had received from it “clear warnings about the inadequacies of their national control programs after the 2022 world championships in Eugene”.
But these four federations “did not succeed in ensuring that there were sufficient out-of-competition controls of the members of their teams” in the period preceding the following World Championships, in Budapest, deplored the AIU, which called for the imposition of stricter rules for their athletes ahead of the Paris Games, an opinion followed by the International Federation.
Concretely, athletes from these countries will be subject until the Games to the minimum rules reserved for so-called category A countries, in which the risks of doping are the most proven, recalls the AIU.
They will concern, for example, the Brazilian Alison dos Santos, bronze medalist in the 400m hurdles at the Tokyo Games, gold medalist at the World Championships in Eugene, and 5th at the World Championships in Budapest.
In total, 8,466 anti-doping controls, out of competition or in competition, were carried out in the 10 months preceding the Budapest World Championships, underlines the AIU, an increase of 33% compared to the similar period before the Eugene Championships (6,359 ), for a number of athletes involved also on the rise (2,004 against 1,719).