The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7315 p321-322
4 September 2004

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Volunteering as a doping control officer at the Athens Olympics 2004

In this article, Tania Thomas, who worked as a volunteer in doping control at the Athens Olympic Games, explains what the role involved

New drug technologies series

Swimming competitions were included at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. Swimmers jumped off a boat into the Zea yachting marina in the port of Piraeus and swam towards the finish line on shore — quite a different setting from the impressive swimming facilities at the Olympic Aquatic Centre in Athens in 2004.

Moreover, when welcoming home the XXVIII Summer Olympic Games on 13 August 2004, the Athens 2004 Olympic Committee made sure to emphasise the importance of the Olympic values which, although sometimes forgotten in this modern age of competitive sporting, were the foundation of the original games in Ancient Greece. The modern problem of performance enhancement is fundamentally contrary to these values of ethics, equality, honesty and fair-play, and to the spirit of the games.

The aquatic sports of swimming, water polo, diving and synchronised swimming are governed by the rules of the International Swimming Federation (FINA). Athletes selected for testing, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission, were those who achieved the top four positions plus at least one other randomly selected participant in individual sporting events, such as swimming races. For team sports, such as relay swimming races, synchronised swimming and water polo, one or two athletes were chosen at random from 25 per cent of the competition throughout the event (including preliminaries and qualifying events) as well as two randomly selected athletes from the top four finishing places. Any athlete who established or broke an Olympic or world record in non-final competitions was also tested.

Role of escort
Participating as a volunteer in doping control for the Athens 2004 aquatic events meant spending each day of the Olympics at one of the three competition swimming pools at the aquatic centre within the Athens Olympic sports complex. The two roles for pharmacist volunteers within doping control were doping control escorts and doping control technical officers.

Doping control escorts were fortunate enough to watch each competition at the “field of play” (FOP), in order to follow the progress of the competition and to identify the athletes selected for testing. Escorts were fully equipped with the starting list for the competition, which included: the athletes’ rank and qualifying times; a notification form detailing the venue, selection procedure, necessary tests and athlete/escort identity; a cooler with sealed refreshments and water; and a Tetra device (walkie-talkie). During the event, all competing athletes’ accreditation cards — their Olympic “passports” — were handed over to doping control, so that no athlete could leave the FOP without being identified. At the end of each event, the escort notified the selected athlete and explained that he or she had to report to the doping control station for a urine sample within one hour. The escorts accompanied the athlete for the full hour (this was where the Tetras came in handy) and supervised the athlete during any necessary medal ceremonies or press conferences. In the event that the athlete was also to undergo blood testing (for endurance swimming events over 400 metres), an appointment was made within the next 12 hours at the polyclinic at the Olympic village, where the majority of athletes were staying. Athletes had the right to be accompanied by one person into the station, and most chose their coach or doctor. Contrary to popular belief, athletes had the right to eat or drink anything they wanted at their own discretion before the test but were warned not to eat or drink anything unsealed or of doubtful origin.

Role of technical officer
Once the athlete entered the doping control station, the technical officers took over the procedure for urine sample collection. The athlete was introduced to the medical officer, who explained the procedure and informed them of the volume of sample that was to be provided (at least 75ml and 110ml for the erythropoetin test in endurance events). The technical officer accompanied the athlete into the toilet, where the athlete was exposed to the technical officer from chest to knee in order to ensure that the sample collected was from the correct athlete at that specific time. Discreet viewing of urine sampling through the use of conveniently placed mirrors is an art in itself, and was taught to the technical officers during pre-Olympic test events. The technical officer tested the collected sample for specific gravity and pH to ensure its suitability for laboratory testing. If the conditions were not met, the athlete was required to give another sample, although there was a contingency for “partial” samples. At all points during sample collection the athlete alone was permitted to touch the sample vessel, from the point of removing the container from its sealed packaging to resealing it and labelling the box with an identification code, to be sent off to the doping control laboratory. Following satisfactory sample collection, the medical officer recorded all medicines or supplements that the athlete had taken during the previous three days, including the commercial name of the product, dosage form and dosage (the strength of the product and the last day on which it was taken). Once the athlete had checked the documentation to ensure that no confidentiality had been breached, the forms were signed by the medical officer, the technical officer and the athlete. Escorts, athletes and medical officers were supervised randomly by officials from WADA, FINA and the IOC. In fact, most days were spent with officials from all three organisations.

Challenges

As anyone who has participated in such events is aware, the most difficult task was the identification of the athletes. The water polo athletes initially seemed the easiest to identify because of the numbers on their swimming caps — that is, until they emerged from the pool and immediately removed their caps. Once the athlete was successfully identified, notification had to be conducted discreetly and without attracting the attention of cameras and journalists, which was also quite difficult considering the luminous green doping control armbands that we wore. The notification process itself was also challenging, taking into account the athlete’s heightened psychological state on leaving the FOP, the general attitude of athletes towards anti-doping (some nationalities being more accustomed to the procedure than others) and, of course, the cultural and language barriers. Being Greek myself, it was always a pleasant experience for me to notify Greek athletes (especially when they were medallists), although it was emphasised to all volunteers that they were not to be treated any differently from other nationalities. One of the most exhilarating experiences was being at the FOP when the Greek men’s 10 metre synchronised divers won the gold medal in a last minute turn around, and I was able to join in the eruption of chants of “Hellas” and customary waves.

Success of the programme

The intensive sampling of athletes and updated detection methods used at Athens 2004 resulted in the expected increase in numbers of athletes failing doping control testing as compared with previous Olympic Games. This was seen as a success for the doping control programme at the Athens Olympics, and a starting block for similar testing in the future, in a move to recapture the true spirit of the games.