Paris Olympics anti-doping program found 45 cases

September 19, 2024

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Paris Olympics anti-doping program found 45 cases

The anti-doping program for the Paris Olympics caught five athletes after earlier finding 40 rule violations among competitors who had been expected to take part in the Games, the agency that ran the operation said Thursday.

Summing up its Olympic program, the International Testing Agency said 6,130 samples were collected during the Games period in July-August from 4,150 different athletes. The samples were of urine, blood and dried blood spot.

Taking samples from almost 39 per cent of the athletes was “a 4 per cent increase compared to Tokyo 2020 and 10 per cent higher than Rio 2016,” the ITA said. The most tested nations were those with the biggest teams in Paris: the United States, France, China, Australia and Britain.

The agency said nearly 90 per cent of athletes who took part were tested at least once before the Paris Summer Games opened.

“The ITA can also report over 40 anti-doping rule violations stemming from the testing activities implemented on behalf of its partners ahead of the Games pertaining to athletes who were likely due to participate,” it said.

The Games-time samples, plus selected ones from the pre-Games testing program, will now be stored for 10 years. They can be opened and re-analyzed when better tests are developed and new intelligence emerges.

The five positive tests in Paris came from two cases in judo and one each in track and field, aquatics and boxing. The substances involved were anabolic steroids and a diuretic.

The athletes, from Afghanistan, Bolivia, Congo, Iraq and Nigeria, were removed ahead of their event or had their results disqualified. Disciplinary cases are now being prosecuted, typically by their sport’s governing body.

See also Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tough Bronx persona is under fresh scrutiny with a resurfaced childhood nickname from her suburban upstate New York upbringing casting doubt on that publicly portrayed image. The progressive champion’s latest spat with President Donald Trump over the Iran strikes again called into question her true upbringing when she declared on X she was a “Bronx girl" to make her a point against the president. The 35-year-old congresswoman wrote in part on X: "I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully," she said, referring to the president’s upbringing in Queens as she called for his impeachment over his decision to bypass Congress in authorizing U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx but moved to Yorktown – which is nearly an hour outside New York City -- when she was 5 years old and went on to attend Yorktown High School where she graduated in 2007. She was considered an accomplished student there and well thought of by teacher Michael Blueglass, according to a 2018 report by local media outlet Halston Media News. “There, known by students and staff as ‘Sandy,’ she was a member of the Science Research Program taught by Michael Blueglass," the report states. “She was amazing," Blueglass said, per the report. “Aside from her winning one of the top spots and going to the [Intel International Science and Engineering Fair], she was just one of the most amazing presenters in all of the years I've been at Yorktown. Her ability to take complex information and explain it to all different levels of people was fantastic." After high school, Ocasio-Cortez attended Boston University, where she majored in economics and international relations, per the report. Ocasio-Cortez’s “Sandy" nickname — which carries a more suburban and preppy tone — appears to undercut her politically crafted image as a tough, inner-city fighter, one she has portrayed since her famous 2018 congressional campaign where she eventually ousted former 10-terms Congressman Joe Crowley. New York GOP Assemblyman Matt Slater, who now represents Yorktown, added to the scrutiny of Ocasio-Cortez’s persona in the wake of her brash with Trump and released images of Ocasio-Cortez from his high school yearbook. He claimed he and the rising Democratic star attended Yorktown High School at the same time when she was a freshman and he was a senior. "I saw the attacks on the president and her [Ocasio-Cortez] claims that she's a big, tough Bronx girl," said Slater. "To sit there and say that she’s a Bronx girl is just patently ridiculous." "Everybody in our community knows this is just a bold-face lie," said Slater on "Fox & Friends First" last week. "She grew up in Yorktown, she was on my track team." "She's lying about her background, she's lying about her upbringing," Slater claimed. Slater’s post sent social media ablaze and prompted Ocasio-Cortez to respond after an image if her family’s home was posted online. “I’m proud of how I grew up and talk about it all the time," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X Friday responding to the post. “My mom cleaned houses and I helped. We cleaned tutors’ homes in exchange for SAT prep." “Growing up between the Bronx and Yorktown deeply shaped my views of inequality & it’s a big reason I believe the things I do today!"

The ITA was created by the International Olympic Committee in 2016 to bring more independence to global anti-doping and manage testing programs on behalf of sports bodies.