Doping at the 2024 Paris Olympics: "Athletes should not be blamed for every extraordinary performance"calls the director general of the International Testing Agency
“We should not sound the alarms and blame athletes for every extraordinary performance”declared on Tuesday August 6 on franceinfo Benjamin Cohen, general director of the International Testing Agency (ITA), the agency responsible for organizing the anti-doping control program during the Paris 2024 Games.
Referring in particular to the performances of the French multi-Olympic champion swimmer Léon Marchand, the director of the ITA calls for “to rejoice in these performances”. “We must remain vigilant but we must be able to admire exploits like those of Léon Marchand”explains Benjamin Cohen.
Benjamin Cohen explains that over the entirety of these Paris Games, “about 6,000 samples” urine or blood will be analyzed by “an independent laboratory”. “The controls are decided following a very thorough risk analysishe adds. We are doing an analysis, we are looking at which athletes and delegations are most at risk, and the ITA will request controls.”
“Usually, we test the medalists, to make sure that the podiums are protectedhe continues. Athletes are required to submit to doping controls. If he refuses, he is liable to suspension.” “The samples, once analyzed, are repatriated to Switzerland and stored for ten years in a freezer so that they can be analyzed again if necessary.”he concludes, explaining that “If a test is negative today, it may be that in the future, science will catch up with the cheaters and we will be able to flush out tests that are now negative.”
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