UKAD Statement on Reanalysis of Athlete Samples
The below statement was published on 4 March 2017, regarding re-analysis of athlete samples. UK Anti-Doping will be offering no further comment at this time.
Nicole Sapstead, Chief Executive of UK Anti-Doping has made the following statement;
“As is a matter of public knowledge, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) have been investigating the allegations made in the BBC Panorama programme relating to Alberto Salazar and the Nike Oregon Project.
“Due to the fact the investigation has focused on a training base in the United States but has featured British athletes, USADA and UKAD have worked jointly on this investigation. UKAD enjoys an excellent working relationship with our partners including USADA.
“All British elite athletes who are part of UKAD’s whereabouts testing and/or reanalysis programme will be under the jurisdiction of UKAD even if they are overseas training or competing. Their samples will be tested and potentially reanalysed by UKAD based on intelligence received and improvements in detection methods. Each time a sample is reanalysed or sent to another location, the amount contained within a sample can be reduced or has the potential to degrade which limits the possibility to test again in the future.
“Decisions as to testing and analysis therefore require careful consideration, and national anti-doping organisations can quite legitimately disagree in this regard. We do not comment on our testing strategy or ongoing investigations, as has been made clear in recent investigations. Status is no barrier to thorough testing or potential investigations. UKAD treats all athletes in the same way.
“As is standard practice, if at the end of the investigation there is no resulting prosecution, UKAD will not publish the details. This is because we have a duty to protect the rights of those involved and any information gathered in the investigation may be important to our work at a later date.
“UKAD continues to strongly condemn the leaking of information which only serves to fuel rumour and innuendo and has the potential to undermine the principle of confidentiality which is crucial to robust and thorough anti-doping investigations. If any individual or organisation possesses any pertinent information related to anti-doping allegations they are encouraged to make that known to UK Anti-Doping.”