The Luxembourg Anti-Doping Agency (Agence Luxembourgeoise Antidopage - ALAD) recently took stock of its doping controls for the year 2021.
Last year, ALAD control officers carried out 196 urine tests in the Grand Duchy. At the request of the national agency, an additional 34 tests were carried out on Luxembourg athletes abroad.
Of these 230 urine tests, 114 took place during competitions, including 59 requested by federations.
Moreover, 116 unannounced checks took place out of competition on Luxembourg elite athletes, including the aforementioned 34 checks carried out abroad. Among these controls, 70 included both urine and blood samples. A total of 21 controls were carried out on six athletes within the framework of the haematological passport.
An additional five controls resulted in one "no show" and two "filing failures", i.e. the athlete was not at the place indicated in the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS). Note that an athlete is only sanctioned if he / she has a total of three no shows or filing failures within twelve months, which was not the case in 2021.
For 55 controls, the management of the results was the responsibility of the international federation.
All 230 analyses were negative and no athlete licensed in Luxembourg tested positive.
In 2021, ALAD was also able to renew its ISO 9001: 2015 certification for the following areas: planning and carrying out controls, results management, preventive measures and education.
In partnership with ALAD, the National School of Physical Education and Sports (Ecole nationale de l'éducation physique et des sports - ENEPS) held a "doping-free sport" training course for coaches of different levels.
The ALAD also finalised its collaboration with the Sportlycée (sports secondary school) by setting up an anti-doping curriculum, specifying the content that will be covered by school year and the dates when this will take place. The collaboration was strengthened with a first webinar between ALAD and parents of students as well as a first quiz guided by ALAD for students.
Moreover, 2021 saw ALAD give presentations about the fight against doping at the Luxembourg Paralympic Committee (LPC), Lunex University and the FLNS swimming federation.
On 15 March 2021, ALAD and the national centre for the prevention of addictions (Centre National de Prévention des Addictions - cnapa) signed an agreement. This collaboration takes place within the framework of the fight against doping in sport in general and both parties have identified two specific areas where cnapa's expertise could be put to good use.
