Athletics has the most doping violations according to WADA

The World Anti Doping Agency released their 2016 report last Thursday. The WADA report found that there were nearly 1,600 doping violations from 117 nationalities across 112 sports. WADA was established in 1999 as an international independent agency dedicated to research, education, development of anti-doping capacities, investigations and monitoring of the World Anti-Doping Code. 

In the 2016 report, athletics was the worst offender receiving 205 anti-doping rule violations. Coming in at second and third were body building and cycling which received 183 and 165 violations respectively.

The WADA report also lists the countries with the highest proportion of doping violations. Italy, France and the United States had the highest number of violations in 2016. Thankfully, Canada didn’t make the list of worst national offenders. 

Today, the program comprises 16 RADOs, providing direct assistance to 134 countries around the world, with the objective of ensuring that all athletes are subject to efficient anti-doping protocols and processes that meet the requirements of the Code: https://t.co/rZPpnlKppK pic.twitter.com/sk8yzKFF2q

— WADA (@wada_ama) April 9, 2018

Most of WADA’s data comes from what is called “in competition” testing. In competition testing is a sample that is taken in relation to a competition. An athlete is considered as tested “in competition” if they are tested up to 12 hours before the event begins and until the event ends.  While WADA will continue to test and gather data both in and out of competition, they are also placing a greater emphasis on investigative testing. Investigative testing looks at training groups over a period of time and examines both athletes and support staff to ensure they are not in violation of doping regulations. Investigative work can reveal some of the systematic issues that are productive of doping. Through their investigative work, WADA found that 21 support staff had violated anti-doping rules. WADA uses their annual reports to understand trends in doping and utilize their findings to best support international clean sport.