Athletics Integrity Unit

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The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) was founded by World Athletics in 2017 to combat doping and address other forms of ethical misconduct in the sport of athletics. [1] The Monaco-based organization operates independently from World Athletics to fulfill World Anti-Doping Code requirements. [2] It is currently headed by Brett Clothier. [3]

Contents

The organization collected more than 3800 samples from athletes in the first six months of 2021 in advance of the 2020 Summer Olympics. [4] In 2023, AIU announced new efforts to establish a "blood steroid passport" to better detect the presence of steroids, more commonly used in sprinting and throwing events, through blood serum and endocrine testing. [5]

Testing and Disciplinary Process

AIU conducts in-competition and out-of-competition blood and urine testing of athletes. Athletes in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) must meet whereabouts requirements to facilitate random testing. [6] Athletes may be tested by AIU, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Olympic Committee, or national anti-doping organizations. Use of substances on the WADA Prohibited List without a Therapeutic Use Exemption, abnormalities in the Athlete Biological Passport, whereabouts failures, test tampering, and other doping rules violations may result in disciplinary measures. [7]

The AIU disciplinary process includes provisional suspensions in force, pending first instance cases, and first instance decisions. [8] Charges are brought by the AIU before the international, 47-member Disciplinary Tribunal to issue a first instance decision. [9] These decisions may be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport by the athlete or AIU. [10] [11] AIU maintains a list of individuals currently ineligible to participate in the sport of athletics. [12]

AIU categorizes national athletics federations into three groups based on doping risk and athlete success at the international level, with Category A reflecting the highest combined doping risk and success and Category C reflecting the lowest. Higher categories require stronger anti-doping measures from the national federations. As of 2024, Category A includes the national athletics federations of Belarus, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Russia, and Ukraine. Category B has 54 national federations and Category C has 152. [13]

Related Research Articles

World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international governing body for the sport of athletics, covering track and field, cross country running, road running, race walking, mountain running, and ultra running. Included in its charge is the standardization of rules and regulations for the sports, certification of athletic facilities, recognition and management of world records, and the organisation and sanctioning of athletics competitions, including the World Athletics Championships. The organisation's president is Sebastian Coe of the United Kingdom, who was elected to the four-year position in 2015 and re-elected unopposed in 2019 for a second four-year term, and then again in 2023 for a third and final 4 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Anti-Doping Agency</span> National anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States

The United States Anti-Doping Agency is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent doping in the United States with a performance-enhancing substance, the USADA provides education, leads scientific initiatives, conducts testing, and oversees the results management process. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USADA is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code, which harmonizes anti-doping practices around the world, and is widely considered the basis for the strongest and strictest anti-doping programs to prevent doping in sport.

The World Anti-Doping Agency is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key activities include scientific research, education, development of anti-doping capacities, and monitoring of the World Anti-Doping Code, whose provisions are enforced by the UNESCO International Convention Against Doping in Sport. The aims of the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention and the United States Anti-Doping Agency are also closely aligned with those of WADA.

Competitors at the Olympic Games have used banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs.

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Darya Vitalyevna Pishchalnikova is a female discus thrower from Russia. Pishchalnikova is the sister of Bogdan Pishchalnikov and Kirill Pishchalnikov.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Schwazer</span> Italian race walker (born 1984)

Alex Schwazer, OMRI, is an Italian race walker. He was the 2008 Olympic 50k walk champion.

Vladimir Alekseevich Kanaykin is a Russian race walker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blessing Okagbare</span> Nigerian track and field athlete

Blessing Oghnewresem Okagbare-Otegheri is a former Nigerian track and field athlete who specialized in long jump and sprints. She is an Olympic and World Championships medallist in the long jump and a world medalist in the 200 metres. Okagbare also holds the women's 100 metres Commonwealth Games record at 10.85 seconds. She is currently serving a 10-year ban for breaching multiple World Athletics anti-doping rules. Her ban expires on 30 July 2032.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mariya Savinova</span> Russian middle-distance runner

Mariya Sergeyevna Savinova is a Russian former athlete who specialized in the 800 metres event. In 2017, she was found guilty of doping and was subsequently suspended from competition for four years. In addition to the ban, she had three years of elite results nullified and was stripped of both her World Championship medals and her 2012 Olympic gold medal.

An athlete biological passport is an individual electronic record for professional athletes, in which profiles of biological markers of doping and results of doping tests are collated over a period of time. Doping violations can be detected by noting variances from an athlete's established levels outside permissible limits, rather than testing for and identifying illegal substances.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">5000 metres at the World Athletics Championships</span> Event at the world championships in athletics

The 5000 metres at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by men since the inaugural edition in 1983 and by women since 1995. Women competed over 3000 metres from 1980 to 1993, in line with championship standards of the time. It is the shortest long-distance running event at the competition, the 10,000 metres and marathon being the other two such events on the programme. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 5000 metres at the Olympics. The competition format typically has a two-race heats stage that leads directly to a final between fifteen athletes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salwa Eid Naser</span> Bahraini sprinter

Salwa Eid Naser is a Nigerian-born Bahraini sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. She was the 2019 World champion with the third fastest time in history of 48.14 seconds, becoming the youngest-ever champion in the event and also the first woman representing an Asian nation to win that event at a World Championships. The mark places her only behind contested results of Marita Koch and Jarmila Kratochvílová. Over the distance, at only 19, Naser was the 2017 World silver medallist. She has also won, as a member of Bahraini mixed-gender 4x400 m relay team, the 2019 World Championships bronze medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Authorised Neutral Athletes</span> International Organization for Neutral Athletes

Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) is a capacity under which athletes can compete at international sporting competitions without representing their nations, as is standard convention under the Olympic Charter. As of August 2022, only Russian and Belarusian athletes of some sports have competed or are competing within the ANA capacity.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Cherono</span> Kenyan long-distance runner

Lawrence Cherono is a Kenyan long-distance runner. He is currently the 8th fastest marathon performer of all time with his 2:03:04 clocking at the 2020 Valencia Marathon. He clocked 2:04:06 to win the Amsterdam Marathon on October 21, 2018. He also won the Amsterdam Marathon in 2017, running a time of 2:05:09, setting the course record, which he broke in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zerfe Wondemagegn</span> Ethiopian athlete

Zerfe Wondemagegn is an Ethiopian athlete. She competed in the women's 3000 metres steeplechase event at the 2019 World Athletics Championships. She competed in the women's 3000 metres steeplechase event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

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Daniel Simiu Ebenyo is a Kenyan middle-distance and long-distance runner.

Winnie Jemutai Boinett is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner as well as a steeplechase runner. She was the bronze medallist in the 1500 m at the 2021 World U20 Championships, and in 2023 she returned to racing setting the #3 all-time mark in the outdoor 2000 metres steeplechase.

References

  1. ↑ "AIU details comprehensive testing programme ahead of Tokyo Olympics | NEWS | World Athletics". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  2. ↑ "Know Us | Athletics Integrity Unit". www.athleticsintegrity.org. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  3. ↑ "Brett Clothier appointed as first Head of Athletics Integrity Unit | PRESS-RELEASE | World Athletics". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  4. ↑ "AIU details comprehensive testing programme ahead of Tokyo Olympics | NEWS | World Athletics". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  5. ↑ Ingle, Sean (2023-08-22). "Head of Athletics Integrity Unit takes aim at doping policies of other sports". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  6. ↑ "Whereabouts Requirements | Athletics Integrity Unit". www.athleticsintegrity.org. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  7. ↑ "Know The Process | Athletics Integrity Unit". www.athleticsintegrity.org. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  8. ↑ "Athletics Integrity Unit Disciplinary Process | Athletics Integrity Unit". www.athleticsintegrity.org. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  9. ↑ "Global List of Ineligible Persons | Athletics Integrity Unit". www.athleticsintegrity.org. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  10. ↑ "Pending Appeals | Athletics Integrity Unit". www.athleticsintegrity.org. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  11. ↑ "Amusan's whereabouts case headed to CAS". ESPN.com. 2023-09-18. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  12. ↑ "Global List of Ineligible Persons | Athletics Integrity Unit". www.athleticsintegrity.org. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  13. ↑ "NATIONAL FEDERATION ANTI-DOPING OBLIGATIONS | Athletics Integrity Unit". www.athleticsintegrity.org. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
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