Story highlights
FIFA will transport samples taken at Brazil 2014 to a lab in Switzerland
Plan put in place after World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) suspended testing at lab in Rio
The Swiss facility in Lausanne was used during the 2013 Confederations Cup
WADA president John Fahey says logistical problems are "not insurmountable"
Blood and urine transported from Rio de Janeiro to Lausanne.
It is a 5,000-mile transatlantic commute, but that’s the anti-doping plan FIFA will implement to ensure a clean World Cup in 2014.
Football’s global governing body was forced to take the step after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) suspended testing at a laboratory in Rio.
The LADETEC laboratory had its accreditation to conduct anti-doping tests taken away by WADA in August after failing to meet the organization’s International Standard for Laboratories (ISL).
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“Following the recent decision by WADA to revoke the accreditation of the LADETEC laboratory in Rio de Janeiro … FIFA has decided to use the WADA accredited laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland,” read a FIFA statement.
“As WADA confirmed that following due process the LADETEC laboratory would not be able to achieve re-accreditation in time for the World Cup, FIFA has no other option but to handle the analysis of samples abroad.”
The facility in Lausanne was used following the 2013 Confederations Cup, a World Cup warm-up tournament held in Brazil earlier this year, for processing data on the biological profiles of players.
WADA president John Fahey accepted that flying samples across the Atlantic Ocean is not ideal, but insisted the logistical hurdles were “not insurmountable.”
“It’s almost certain it won’t happen before the World Football Cup next year,” Fahey said at the World Conference on Doping in Sport in Johannesburg.
“Clearly that will involve using another laboratory … You can move the samples these days with aircrafts and regular flights.”
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The WADA president cited an example from February this year, when drug testers successful took samples from over 40 Kenyan athletes before transporting them to Lausanne for analysis.
“FIFA is now taking the necessary logistical steps for the shipment of samples overseas,” continued FIFA’s statement.
“FIFA and WADA will ensure the best possible analysis of urine and blood samples and the proper implementation of the new strategy in the fight against doping by means of the steroid module of the Athlete Biological Passport.”
Biological passports collate an athlete’s drug test results over time, making it easier to detect differences which could indicate the use of a banned substance.
Brazil, and Rio in particular, is set to be firmly in the global spotlight over the next few years.
Two years after the World Cup, which will run through June and July, Rio will host the 2016 Olympic Games.
A total of 552 blood and urine tests conducted during the South Africa World Cup in 2010 returned zero positive results.
FIFA doubled the number of precompetition tests conducted compared to the World Cup in Germany in 2006.
The LADETEC laboratory was not immediately available for comment.
