No Athletes Tested Positive for Doping at Milan Winter Olympics, for First Time in 28 Years
· Yahoo Sports
Credit: Richard Heathcote/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- No athletes tested positive for doping at the Milan Cortina Winter Games
- More than 3,000 samples were collected on 1,848 athletes, the International Testing Agency said
- The last time no athletes tested positive at an Olympics was at the 1998 Nagano Games
Not a single athlete tested positive for doping violations at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, according to the International Testing Agency (ITA).
The result marks the first time in 28 years — since the 1998 Nagano Games — that the ITA has not produced a positive result, the agency said in a news release on Wednesday, April 1.
“At this stage, no anti-doping rule violations have been asserted based on the results of the testing conducted during the Games,” the ITA said.
A total of 3,053 samples were collected on 1,848 athletes, which represents 63.4% of participants at the Games in Italy.
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“Athletes from all participating National Olympic Committees (NOCs) were tested during the Games,” the ITA said. “During the pre-Games phase, 92% of participating athletes had been tested at least once in the six months leading up to Milano Cortina 2026.”
Only 55% of athletes were tested at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, and four athletes tested positive, according to The Athletic.
“The distribution of tests broadly reflected the size of national delegations, with the United States, Italy, Canada, France and Germany among the most frequently tested nations,” the ITA said.
The highest doping controls were in hockey, cross-country skiing, biathlon, speed skating and alpine skiing, the agency said.
Among the tests were 2,180 urine samples, 768 blood samples and 105 dried blood spot samples (DBS). The samples were analyzed at a World Anti-Doping Agency accredited lab in Rome and will be stored at a facility for up to 10 years, per The Athletic.
“Following the successful delivery of the Milano Cortina 2026 anti-doping program, the ITA will continue its work to strengthen the Olympic anti-doping program and looks ahead to the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026 and the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028, where it will once again implement comprehensive and intelligence-led clean sport measures,” the ITA said.
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