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Montreal, 20 December 2021
- The Report highlights 1,914 confirmed Anti-Doping Rule Violations in 2019, involving individuals from 117 nationalities and across 89 sports
- 1,537 ADRVs came from Adverse Analytical Findings and 377 from non-analytical, evidence-based intelligence
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) today publishes its seventh annual Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) Report, which is the official set of such figures under the World Anti-Doping Code. As usual, the Report is available in a PDF version as well as a dynamic, Excel version that illustrates the ADRV results in an interactive fashion.
The Report illustrates doping offences committed in global sport during 2019. It includes all decisions received by WADA’s Legal Affairs Department up to 31 January 2021. It highlights that there were a total of 1,914 ADRVs recorded in 2019. This represents a slight decrease relative to the 2018 figure of 1,923.
1,537 of the ADRVs came out of Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs), commonly known as ‘positive’ results. The remainder were derived from investigations and evidence-based intelligence into 377 violations committed by athletes and athlete support personnel.
WADA Director General Olivier Niggli said: “Testing remains an important tool for Anti-Doping Organizations to utilize in the protection of clean sport. In terms of the detection and deterrence of doping, there will always be a need for in-competition and no-notice, intelligence-based out-of-competition testing. This annual Anti-Doping Rule Violations Report gives us a good insight into the outcomes of the testing programs conducted by Anti-Doping Organizations worldwide, particularly when read in combination with WADA’s 2019 Testing Figures report that was published in December 2020.
“One of the most significant aspects of the Anti-Doping Rule Violations Report for 2019 is the increase in the number of non-analytical ADRVs that we see. In total, there were 377, which is 94 more than in 2018 and represents a 34% increase year on year. Many of these were determined by evidence gathered through intelligence and investigations (I&I). Clearly, the work of WADA I&I and similar teams within some Anti-Doping Organizations in this area is delivering good results for clean sport. The success of WADA’s confidential source platform, ‘Speak Up!’, is very encouraging as more and more individuals with evidence of wrongdoing are coming forward to provide information to our investigators.
“Of course, testing and intelligence and investigations work are not the only tools at the disposal of the anti-doping community. We need a holistic approach. The prevention of doping starts with a comprehensive, values-based education program that supports athletes in their efforts to compete fairly and with integrity, while informing them of what consequences they will face if they choose not to. Other strategies that we know are having a positive impact include in particular the Athlete Biological Passport, the long-term storage of samples for further analysis at a later date, scientific research and innovation, for example in the area of big data analysis by artificial intelligence.”
The 2019 Anti-Doping Rule Violations Report contains all ADRV decisions reported to WADA by Anti-Doping Organizations (ADOs). These decisions include those from AAFs reported in samples collected by ADOs in 2019 as well as from non-analytical ADRV decisions rendered in 2019.
As with previous years, the beginning of the report comprises explanations and definitions, an introduction and an executive summary highlighting key data. The first and second sections present the Results Management outcomes (including ADRVs) of all AAFs detected by WADA-accredited Laboratories for samples collected in 2019 from athletes in- and out-of-competition. They are presented by sport category (Section 1) and testing authority category (Section 2).
Section 3 includes ADRVs that resulted from non-analytical findings committed by athletes (presented by sport and nationality) and by athlete support personnel (presented by nationality).
Section 4 indicates the total number of ADRVs in 2019, which includes AAFs that resulted in an ADRV plus all non-analytical ADRVs. It presents the data by sport and nationality and is further broken down into type of samples (urine or blood), type of test (in- or out-of-competition) and athlete sex classification.
You can consult the full report in PDF, the dynamic report in Excel and a document that answers stakeholders’ frequently asked questions. |
