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As far as the IOC's official statistics on the analyses performed by its accredited
laboratories in 1999 are concerned, the percentage of positive A tests was 1.98%.
The means for fighting doping.
For more than 30 years, the Olympic Movement has equipped itself with
various tools and texts:
• 1988: International Olympic Charter against Doping
• 1975 IOC Medical Code
• 2000 Olympic Movement Anti-Doping Code
All these texts perfectly set out the measures to be taken to detect doping. The
Code applies to all the constituents of the Olympic Movement. It is prepared
every year by the IOC, recently in collaboration with the World Anti-Doping
Agency, and applies to the entire Olympic Movement (IFs and NOCs). It includes a
number of substances categorised under different headings:
• stimulants
• narcotics
• anabolic agents
• diuretics
• peptide hormones, mimetics and analogues
• prohibited methods
• certain substances subject to restrictions
To ensure that this list is respected and that the athletes do not use prohibited
substances or methods, tests are used. There are two types of tests:
• the traditional in-competition tests
• and the recently-introduced unannounced out-of-competition tests
1. In-competition tests
These take place after the competition and generally concern the first
three and one or several athletes randomly selected.
2. Out-of-competition tests
These take place as their name suggests outside competition either
at training venues or at the athlete's home
During 1999, some 120,000 in- and out-of-competition tests were performed
world-wide.
The urine (or more recently blood) samples collected are transported to the
laboratories. These laboratories have to meet the very strict quality standards set
and controlled by the IOC.
When a test produces a positive result, i.e. when the presence of one or
several prohibited substances has been detected in the biological liquid analysed,
this positive result is submitted to the competent authority which can declare the
result as a positive case after hearing the athlete and taking into consideration all
the evidence related to the case.
The entire process from the taking of the urine sample to the declaration of a
positive case constitutes a safety chain, which must give all guarantees of security
and transparency.
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