In 2013, the Finnish Antidoping Agency FINADA carried out a total of 3,294 doping tests in Finland and abroad. A total of 2,877 tests were carried out under FINADA’s national testing programme. Of these, 27 were blood tests.
The number of tested disciplines was 83. The most tested disciplines in the national testing programme were ice hockey (233 tests), athletics (188) and powerlifting (175). There were ten antidoping rule violations in 2013. The total number of tests was less than in the previous year. In 2012, the number of tests carried out was 3,634 of which 3,006 were in the national testing programme.
– The number of tests depends on FINADA’s financial resources. Today, the testing focus is on quality instead of quantity: the time of testing and the persons to be tested are carefully chosen. The number of tests alone is not an indicator of the state of the testing programme, says FINADA’s Doping Control Manager Katja Huotari.
How doping control measures are planned and implemented depends on possible major competition events. For example, FINADA’s testing activity increased markedly before the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The nearing Olympics clearly increased the number of international test requests received by FINADA.
– Northern Finland is a popular place for training camps in early winter: many countries’ best winter athletes come to Finland to train. The Olympics were also the reason for FINADA carrying out many doping tests on foreign athletes on the request of international sports federations and the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA, says Huotari.
Doping control has improved and become more versatile in recent years. The Athlete Biological Passport has become an essential element in doping control: the number of samples collected has doubled from the previous year.
An athlete’s individual profile (Athlete Biological Passport) is about monitoring selected biological variables (such as haemoglobin and haematocrit) over a long time. The biological passport is used for targeting and timing doping tests. With the ABP it is possible to obtain indirect evidence of doping use, on the basis of which an athlete can be sanctioned according to the antidoping code.
– The antidoping organisations in the Nordic countries have together established an administrative organ for the ABP. In this way, we will be able to make the most out of the ABP, which will help us in the targeting and timing of doping control measures, says Huotari.
FINADA’s doping test statistics
Further information:
Katja Huotari
Doping Control Manager, FINADA
Mobile +358 40 843 3897