It’s about time. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has just published its 2020 report on anti-doping rule violations. It concerns a year in which the health crisis removed most sporting events from the calendar, including the Tokyo Games. As a result, the number of tests was significantly reduced. And with it, the number of doping cases, down from 1914 in 2019 to 935 in 2020. Of these 935 confirmed anti-doping rule violations (CADVs) recorded by WADA, 25 are linked to support personnel. They involve individuals from 91 nationalities and 67 different sports. More than two-thirds (672) of these violations were detected through sample analysis. The remainder (263) were the result of intelligence and investigations. WADA points this out in its report: “The proportion of confirmed VRADs to samples collected remained stable compared to 2019, despite the lower number of samples collected in 2020 due to COVID-19.” Clearly, fewer controls in 2020, so fewer positive cases. But a very comparable proportion, year on year, between the number of samples collected and the number of anti-doping rule violations.
