Oregon 2022: Athletes from high-risk countries eligible for World Championships

Bengaluru, July 17: The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has confirmed that thanks to significant improvements in most of their domestic testing programmes, those countries categorised as being the highest doping risk to the sport do not have any athletes declared not eligible at the ongoing World Athletics Championships Oregon22.

This is in stark contrast to the situation in Tokyo Olympics last year when 20 such athletes were declared not eligible.

This year, the minimum testing requirements were fully met for five out of the six relevant federations.

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In the case of the Ukraine Athletics Federation, the requirements were largely met, and the AIU Board approved an exemption for seven (out of 22) Ukrainian athletes due to the exceptional circumstances facing that federation.

The AIU is the independent body created by WA that manages all integrity issues - both doping and non-doping - for the sport of athletics.

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The remit of the AIU includes anti-doping, the pursuit of individuals engaged in age or competition results manipulation, investigating fraudulent behaviour with regards to transfers of allegiance, and detecting other misconduct including bribery and breaches of betting rules.

"Under the framework of Rule 15 governing National Federation Anti-Doping Obligations, which came into force in January 2019, National Federations are accountable for ensuring appropriate antidoping measures are in place in their respective jurisdictions, " a joint WA-AIU statement said.

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"Among other things, the Rule sets out minimum requirements for testing on the national teams of 'Category A' federations deemed to have the highest doping risk and considered as a threat to the overall integrity of the sport.

The key requirement in Rule 15 is that an athlete from a 'Category A' country must undergo at least three no-notice out-of-competition tests (urine and blood) conducted no less than 3 weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to a major event. Only then do they become eligible to represent their national team at the World Athletics Championships or the Olympic Games," the statement added.

As far as the Ukrainian team (comprising 22 athletes) at Oregon 2022 is concerned, testing requirements were met for 15 and not met for seven, but each of these athletes will have at least two tests prior to competing.

Considering the situation in Ukraine and the extraordinary efforts from the Ukrainian national Anti-Doping Agency and Federation to arrange testing on their athletes, the AIU Board ruled that an exemption from the requirements should apply.

"It's accepted now in our sport that National Federations must play their part in supporting antidoping efforts," AIU Board Chairman David Howman said.

"Therefore, it's very pleasing to see the significant improvements in most 'Category A' countries thanks to this rule. I particularly commend the Nigerian team. It's amazing what can be achieved when the domestic authorities start taking anti-doping seriously. While there've clearly been positive steps across the board, there's are many improvements that can be made in the application of this rule and we'll continue to work with Category A Federations to do so," he added.

The World Atheltics Championships Oregon 22 which began on July 15, will conclude on July 24.