The EYOF organisers will provide testing of athletes through ADA SR

Nowadays, the sporting events cannot do without anti-doping commissioners who oversee the purity of sport. They will also be present at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Banská Bystrica (July 24-30, 2022). The organisers of the continental multi-sporting event under Urpín entrusted doping controls to the Anti-Doping Agency of the Slovak Republic (ADA SR) during the EYOF 2022, with which they signed a contract at the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee (SOŠV) on Friday.

“Our cooperation has two lines. The first is to provide testing during this youth event. We will do anti-doping controls, samples will then be evaluated by an accredited laboratory in Seibersdorf, Austria, and the management of the results, if anyone is positive, will be under the responsibility of the European Olympic Committees (EOC). The second part of our cooperation is the educational programs and prevention,” said the director of ADA SR Žaneta Csáderová.

“We appreciate that we have managed to establish cooperation with the Slovak Anti-Doping Agency, which will take over the auspices of the control and education of young athletes at the largest multi-sporting event in Slovakia. The issue of anti-doping is an essential part of the personal development of the future sports stars. That is why the education of young athletes is one of our priorities as EYOF organisers,” says Peter Hamaj, Executive Director of the EYOF Organising Committee.

Only doping commissioners from Slovakia will work in Banská Bystrica. “We will have about six people with the International Testing Agency (ITA) accreditation. Specifically, there will be four anti-doping commissioners and two doping control stations managers who can also do anti-doping tests. Of course, they can be seconded by the ITA representatives there,” said Csáderová, who indicated the volume of work for the people from ADA SR during the summer edition of EYOF. 

During the seven days of the major youth event, the ADA SR will take an average of 25 tests per day. “The exact number of inspections will be specified later, but, in total, there will be 175 inspections will be contracted. It will only be a urine samples, i.e. not blood samples. There is also a possibility of the out of competition controls which will be decided by the ITA as the international testing authority. Moreover, the information is not provided in advance,” explains the ADA director.

It is not yet known who will be involved in the EYOF testing specifically, but it will probably be the most successful athletes in each sport. “In this context, a so-called distribution testing plan has to be drawn up, which we do not yet have available. We do not receive it until just before the event. It says how to choose the athletes for the testing, whether it will be by their placement, drawing or some special selection due to any reasons. As the ratio of test takers and their selection is set, it will be determined by who is responsible for the testing. The plan also takes into account the riskiness of individual sports. It will probably be developed by ITA,” Csáderová continued.

The doping also concerns young athletes, which the public was able to see during the recent Winter Olympics in Beijing in connection with the case of the 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valiyeva of Russia. “We cannot say that doping is avoided in the youth categories. However, the Protected Person Code under 16 applies here. Doping control for athletes under the age of 18 is also different. For example, in addition to the anti-doping commissioner, there is another commissioner who supervises him, as well as an accompanying person. It can be, for example, a coach, doctor, team leader, etc. This person also signs the form for an underage person,” explained the head of the ADA SR.

Young athletes must also pay attention to their diet or drinking regimen to avoid violating the anti-doping rules. “Adherence to the rules is the same as for the adults. Everyone has a personal responsibility for what substance gets into their body. Of course, in these cases of young athletes, it is also taken into account which person is responsible for that person. We are not just talking about the diet supplements but also the food. It is known that in China, for example, there have been problems with meat contamination. Athletes need to ask their GPs, paediatricians what medications they are given so that they are not on the banned substances list.”

An important part of the work of the Anti-Doping Agency of the Slovak Republic is the educational programs and prevention. “During the EYOF in Banská Bystrica, we will have stands for the public and athletes with various quizzes and educational leaflets. In addition, we organised several webinars and lectures for secondary school teachers in cooperation with SOŠV, and we continue this initiative in other schools. Among high school students, we also conducted a survey on doping issues, the questionnaire was filled in by 2,200 respondents,” added Žaneta Csáderová.