Onus on Olympians to keep drug testers up to date under 'whereabouts' rules

National Post

6 hours ago

A chunk of an Olympic or Paralympic athlete's life is spent telling drug testers where they will be every day and every night.
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Failure to provide that information can damage an athlete's eligibility to compete, even if they've never taken a banned substance.
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Penny Oleksiak won't be on Canada's swimming team at the world championship starting Saturday in Singapore after running afoul of 'whereabouts' requirements.
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From staying at a friend's house overnight in the off-season to training in remote mountains, athletes must be found for testing to avoid sanctions.
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The onus is on athletes to submit that information through the web-based Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) on a computer or on a mobile-phone app.
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Athletes must provide, on a quarterly basis, their addresses (home, hotel or otherwise) and every day must have an overnight accommodation entry.
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Also required is contact info, training and competition schedules and locations, time and location of school, work or medical appointments, and a 60-minute window each day that they're available for testing.
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If a grocery run or spontaneous decision to go to a movie conflicts with the 60-minute window an athlete offers as available for testing, ADAMS must be updated beforehand to provide an alternative hour.
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But athletes can also be tested at any time and any place with no advance notice. Whereabouts information must be sufficiently detailed so they can be found for testing.
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Whereabouts and ADAMS are constants in an elite athlete's life.
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'It is part of our job,' said Canadian race walker and Olympic medallist Evan Dunfee. 'It is something that we sign up for.'
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He recalled a 2017 vacation in Iceland where he was travelling in a recreational vehicle.
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'We didn't know where we were going to be stopping each night,' Dunfee recalled. 'We were just going to drive until we found somewhere nice and set up shop.'
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That required a consultation with the Canadian Centre For Ethics in Sport.
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'I actually had to chat with CCES beforehand and say, 'Hey, how do I follow the rules in this situation?' They said, 'to the best of your ability, update it as best you can.' I think I ended up putting in my latitude and longitude,' Dunfee said.