Twenty athletes from seven countries competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been declared ineligible to participate in the multi-sport event after failing to meet minimum anti-doping testing requirements prior to the games.
Nigeria is the most affected country with 10 of their athletes included in the list.
A statement from the Athletics Integrity Unit, the body created to oversee anti-doping regulations by the World Athletics, said the affected athletes failed to achieve the minimum number of doping tests required to compete at the games.
20 athletes are not eligible to compete @tokyo2020 as the minimum testing requirements under Rule 15 of the @WorldAthletics Anti-Doping Rules were not met by Category A National Federations.
Read the full release: https://t.co/qjMyEDfwTY#AIUNews#Tokyo2020#MySportMyIntegrity pic.twitter.com/uoaxN7mNu1— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) July 28, 2021
The AIU explained that under the framework of Rule 15 governing National Federation Anti-Doping Obligations, which came into force in January 2019, National Federations are accountable for ensuring appropriate anti-doping measures are in place in their respective jurisdictions.
Among other things, the rule sets out minimum requirements for testing for the national teams of ‘Category A’ federations deemed to have the highest doping risk and considered as a threat to the overall integrity of the sport.
The key requirement in Rule 15 is that an athlete from a ‘Category A’ country must undergo at least three no-notice out-of-competition tests (urine and blood) conducted no less than three weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to a major event.
Only then do they become eligible to represent their national team at the World Athletics Championships or the Olympic Games.
For the year 2021, the seven identified ‘Category A’ National Federations are Belarus, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and Ukraine.
Read full statement here: