Athletes Selection

The athlete selection for the in-competition testing (ICT) program generally followed the

International Federation (IF) guidelines or requests. It did concern the IO Team that in

some venues there was no coordination between the doping control personnel and IF

representatives which created problems (e.g. a swimmer was notified for doping control

after a first event because the chaperone was not aware that he/she would compete

later in another event and the chaperone could not prevent the athlete from urinating

between the two events). In order to avoid these situations, the IO Team recommended

a systematic coordination with the IF technical commissioner to plan the notification and

testing procedures. The IO Team observed that some doping control station managers

and/or lead DCOs and/or PASO MC representatives doing it but it was not done at all

venues.

Some IF delegates requested that the athletes who were tested on one day not be

selected for testing on the following day. This request was made, despite the fact that

the athletes were often competing in finals, resulting in a situation where even if an

athlete finished first in the event, they would not be selected for testing, which the IO

Team considered inappropriate and unacceptable. Nevertheless, systematically testing

gold/silver/bronze medal winners in a sport, for example like swimming, where events

took place on consecutive days and which were dominated by the same group of

nations, leads to several samples being collected from the same athletes and/or

countries. While the IO Team understood the need to test gold and/or silver medalists,

the third test could perhaps be distributed randomly in order to extend the pool of

countries and athletes that were selected for doping control. This could also serve as a

preventive factor for nations who think they can escape doping control at Pan American

Games because they do not take the podium but still perform well at a national or

regional level. The IO Team proposed that some athletes be randomly selected for

doping control between the finalists that did not go to the podium. The PASO MC

followed this recommendation, at least for swimming.


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