The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Monday that athletes from Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Portugal will have to pass more difficult out-of-competition (OOC) tests in order to qualify for the Olympics in Paris because their national testing programs are insufficient.
The World Athletics Council adopted the AIU board’s suggestions to impose “tougher testing requirements on those federations” before to the start of the Olympics on July 26. This led to the decision.
“The four federations received clear warnings from the AIU about the insufficiency of their national testing programmes after the World Athletics Championships 2022 in Eugene,” the AIU said in a statement.
“All four failed to ensure that there was proportionate OOC testing for their teams at the following World Athletics Championships in Budapest 2023.”
“The Council has subsequently accepted the AIU’s call for all four federations to have testing eligibility conditions imposed on their athletes in order to participate in Paris 2024.”
The stringent conditions include athletes having undergone at least three no notice out-of-competition tests before July 4 while each of those tests should have been conducted at least three weeks apart.
“We are pleased with the council’s decision to support the AIU recommendations,” AIU Chair David Howman said.
“This action is tough, but necessary as we did not receive an adequate response from these federations to clear warnings we gave in the lead up to the World Athletics Championships last year.
“In this Olympic year, we trust this will be a reminder to all member federations that the AIU and World Athletics are extremely serious about ensuring a level-playing field for athletes.”
