WADA shuts anti-doping lab weeks ahead of Paris Olympics

The World Anti-Doping Agency ceased operations at the sole authorized testing facility in Africa late on Monday, less than five months before the Paris Olympics.  

WADA stated that due to issues with a testing procedure used to identify steroid use by athletes, the lab in Bloemfontein, South Africa, lost its certification for a maximum of six months.  

The international watchdog stated that samples from Bloemfontein now "must be securely transported to another WADA-accredited laboratory."  

"This is in order to ensure continued high-quality sample analysis, which also helps preserve athletes' confidence in this process and the wider anti-doping system," said WADA.  

India, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey are the countries that are closest to South Africa among the 30 certified testing labs by WADA; it is a 6,600-kilometer (4,100-mile) flight from Bloemfontein to Doha.  

Collecting samples from remote athlete training centers and transporting them long distances to labs increases the risk they will degrade and be unusable for testing. 

Those labs also can be involved in testing all future samples collected from athletes in Africa, including as part of a global anti-doping program ahead of the Paris Olympics that open on July 26. 

WADA said restrictions on just the IRMS analytical method of testing were first imposed on the South African lab in September. 

"Multiple nonconformities" in Bloemfontein's work were then noted last month by an expert panel advising WADA, the Montreal-based agency said. 

The suspension of all testing in Bloemfontein took effect last Friday, though it can be lifted ahead of the six-month limit if the lab meets required international standards.