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The World Anti-Doping Agency released a statement indicating that out of 283304 tests conducted on athletes from all across the world, more than 3800 samples contained banned substances beyond the permissible limits. BBC reported the Montreal-headquartered organization alluding to a decrease of 10 percent from the results of the tests which were orchestrated in 2013.
The Director-General of WADA, David Howman stated, “We have some guestimates based on some research undertaken over the last years. It's far more than we would wish it to be -over 10 percent. That is of concern because those being caught by the system is far lower than that. Not in all sports, in some sports."
However, he mentioned that different criteria were followed for each sport. The number of samples requiring further scrutiny also fell significantly.
When a widespread doping scandal was unveiled in August 2015, the IAAF had to publicly dismiss the allegations. Hence, unsurprisingly, Athletics was at the forefront with over 10 percent of the premier athletes gaining an unfair advantage by using performance-boosting drugs.
The International Association of Athletics Federations undertook extensive tests on around 600 athletes. But, only the Kenyan duo of Joyce Zakary and Koki Manunga failed them. The IAAF also assured that the samples would be preserved for further analysis, when technological advancements could be reached.
The various sport governing bodies and national anti-doping organizations had presented the collected samples to the 32-WADA accredited laboratories in numerous countries. Since certain prohibited substances could be naturally produced by the bodies of some sportsmen, the existence of such materials in a blood or urine sample could not equated with doping.
Football contained the most number of test samples and was slightly ahead of Athletics and Cycling. In a surprising development, Para-Sailing involved the highest number of adverse findings. Owing to its massive population, the Chinese anti-doping agency organized the maximum number of tests. They were followed by the Russian and German anti-doping agencies.
Hamish Coffey, Head of Testing for UK Anti-Doping, asserted, "Our aim in the UK is not to be focused primarily on the numbers but more about the quality, which is where our intelligence-led operations come in.The reality is there will always be athletes who are determined to cheat and looking at ways of evolving their techniques, which leads to challenges for us. It is important we match that and continue trying to evolve our techniques to keep up with them."
