Suspension of Sole African Laboratory for Doping Due to Insufficient Testing

 

Less than five months before the Paris Olympic Games, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has halted operations at the sole accredited analysis laboratory in Africa. The suspension, effective from the close of Monday, was enforced due to deficiencies in the laboratory's analysis method for detecting steroid use among athletes.

Situated in Bloemfontein, South Africa, the laboratory will lose its accreditation for a period of up to six months. During this period, samples gathered in Bloemfontein must be securely transported to another WADA-accredited laboratory for analysis.

WADA's decision to suspend the laboratory is aimed at ensuring the ongoing provision of high-quality sample analysis and maintaining athletes' trust in the anti-doping process and the overall anti-doping system. The nearest WADA-approved laboratories to South Africa are located in Qatar (6,600 km from Bloemfontein), India, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey.

The challenge of collecting samples from distant training centers and transporting them over extended distances to laboratories poses a risk of sample degradation, making them unsuitable for testing. These alternative laboratories may now play a role in evaluating future samples taken from African athletes, especially as part of a global anti-doping program leading up to the Paris Olympic Games scheduled to begin on July 26.

WADA initially imposed restrictions on the Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) analytical method at the South African laboratory in September. Last month, a group of experts advising WADA identified numerous non-compliances in the laboratory's work. Consequently, the suspension of all testing in Bloemfontein took effect last Friday. However, if the laboratory meets the required international standards, the suspension can be lifted before the six-month timeframe.