The safety gap in the latest doping control containers makes the IOC close to the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang (9. till 25. February)”very concerned”. On Tuesday morning, the IOC announced this position on the problems with the vessels approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which were revealed by the ARD on Monday.
“We have asked WADA to ensure that the anti-doping tests in Pyeongchang can be carried out in a credible and reliable manner,”the IOC said:”WADA has informed us that it is in contact with the bottle manufacturer Berlinger. We have every confidence in WADA that it will find a solution to this issue.”
On Monday, serious deficiencies in the storage of doping samples became known. The test bottles, which were only introduced last September, can be opened and closed again by unauthorized persons after research by the ARD doping editorial office, without leaving any traces.
WADA announced that the safety bottles of the Swiss company Berlinger, developed in response to the Russian state doping scandal, in which the samples are stored, can still be opened manually after freezing. The Cologne control laboratory also confirmed the existence of the problem on SID request.