Rio de Janeiro’s Drug Testing Lab License Revoked for 2016 Olympic Host City, for Humans Not Horrses
11 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Rio de Janeiro’s Drug Testing Lab License Revoked for 2016 Olympic Host City, for Humans Not Horrses
The laboratory that was to conduct drug testing of athletes at the 2016 Olympic Games has had its license revoked by the World Anti-Doping Agency but the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) said Wednesday it will not affect drug testing of horses that was planned to be done elsewhere.
Graeme Cooke, FEI Veterinary Director, said that the Rio WADA lab does not do equine samples, only human.
The drastic move by WADA comes after the doping control laboratory, known as Ladetec, was suspended this month for repeated failures to comply with the necessary standards. It presents a major difficulty for soccer World Cup and Rio 2016 Olympic organizers who had planned for the lab to test all athletes at the events.
WADA suspended the laboratory in January 2012 for nine months and it was reinstated after a site visit to check that all improvements were implemented. Further problems led to it being suspended again on Aug. 8.
“The revocation will enter into force September 25, 2013 and means that the laboratory–which is currently suspended–will no longer be authorized to carry out the testing of doping control samples on behalf of WADA or any testing authority,” the agency said .
“In the meantime, the suspension remains applicable and Ladetec is therefore ineligible to perform analysis of doping control samples for any testing authority.”
