Over 7,500 tests conducted by UK Sport in past year
UK Sport carried out a total of 7,545 drug tests over the course of the past year as part of the national anti-doping programme, according to figures released today by the organisation. There were 32 confirmed anti-doping rule violations added to the Drugs Results Database, and 20 possible anti-doping rule violations added, which were all found to be ‘No case to answer’. Over 62% of tests were conducted out-of-competition at no advance notice.
The period ran from 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009. It is expected to be the final time that UK Sport will release full-year figures, with the new stand-alone agency - UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) – due to be operational by the end of 2009.
National Governing Bodies receiving the most tests over the 12 month timeframe were:
Football Association – 1,613
UK Athletics – 532
Rugby Football League – 508
Rugby Football Union – 488
British Cycling Federation – 423
The results also include the figures from UK Sport’s pre-Beijing anti-doping programme with over 1,500 tests carried out on British athletes who competed at last summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“The past year has been a highly successful one in terms of achieving our goals,” said Andy Parkinson, UK Sport’s Director of Drug-Free Sport. “Not only did we successfully achieve our overall testing and out-of-competition targets, we also carried out our most comprehensive pre-Games testing and education programme to date.
“In addition, it has been a very eventful year as we have worked extremely hard to successfully implement the revised World Anti-Doping Code across British sport - something we continue to do – which came into force in January. This brought with it a number of challenges, but I am confident that those changes brought in are now fully understood by our sports and athletes. It has certainly taken us closer to the global harmonisation that is vital for the anti-doping movement.
“We have been working constructively with the support of our colleagues at DCMS to ensure that the new national anti-doping agency is in the best shape possible to address current and future threats to sport when it opens in doors for business later this year.”
In February, the Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe announced that UKAD would be taking over UK Sport’s current anti-doping responsibility, and was due to be up and running by the end of the year. Recommendations were first made by UK Sport’s Board in December 2007 in recognition of the need for centralised case management of doping cases and greater links with law enforcement agencies, functions that necessitated the need for separation from UK Sport.
UK Sport has worked closely with the DCMS to secure the funding required as, when fully operational, the new NADO will see £7.2 million invested in 2010/11 in anti-doping, a 60% increase on the current £4.5 million budget.
“UKAD becoming operational this year sends out a clear statement of intent ahead of 2012 that doping in this country will not be tolerated. We are entirely committed to ensuring our current testing and education programmes will continue to be delivered to the usual high standards throughout this period,” added Parkinson.