The Rio 2016 Olympic stakeholders have one less problem to worry about now that the World Anti-Doping Agency has lifted the provisional ban of the Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory, the only WADA-accredited lab in Brazil.
The lab’s accreditation was suspended in June for non-conformity with the International Standard for Laboratories . Against all odds, the matter was settled just in time for the Olympic games in August.
The lab is indispensable for the Rio Olympics, as it is responsible for testing the 2016 Olympians and Paralympians. Had the suspension gone on, the testing process at the Olympics would have been extremely complicated, forcing the transfer of urine and blood samples - around 7,000 samples just from Aug. 5 to Aug. 21 - abroad.
Testing the samples outside Brazil would have cost some $250,000, according to Inside the Games, plus it would have opened a wider window for error and manipulation.
WADA declared that the lab has complied with the required standards for reinstatement and is therefore allowed to resume its activity. It is thus reauthorized to perform anti-doping analysis on urine and blood samples.
“All parties worked diligently to resolve the identified issue so that the Laboratory could be up and running optimally for the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games that start on 5 August,” Olivier Niggli, Director General of WADA, said. “Athletes can be confident that anti-doping sample analysis has been robust throughout the Laboratory’s suspension and that it will also be during the Games.”
The chairman of WADA’s executive committee agreed to lift the suspension, based on reports from the WADA Laboratory Expert Group and the recommendation of the disciplinary committee that had been formed to review the case.
WADA has not revealed the lab's shortcomings. However, Africa News reports that technical errors that lead to false positive results triggered the suspension.
The news did not reassure everyone.
According to The Australian, Rio's "error-prone" doping lab was rebuilt for the 2016 Olympics, costing $60 million. Its accreditation was previously suspended in 2012 and then in 2013, which puts in question whether it should be trusted for the 2016 Olympics. The ban was still in effect during Brazil’s 2014 World Cup, costing FIFA hundreds of thousands of dollars to fly the athletes’ samples to a WADA-accredited facility in Switzerland.
"Haven’t we learned our lesson from the Sochi Olympic Games that accrediting a banned laboratory weeks before the competition commences cannot build the trust in athletes that proper standards will be applied?’’ said the former Australian Sports Anti-Doping authority chief Richard Ings, in light of the Russian doping scheme that was recently verified.
"After the Sochi laboratory debacle, it is incumbent on WADA and the International Olympic Committee to put in place greater oversight and auditing of the Rio laboratory."