WADA halts work at anti-doping lab in Africa for six months before Paris 2024

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has suspended work at the testing laboratory in Bloemfontein, South Africa, the only WADA-approved lab in Africa, for six months, the agency announced on Monday.

"The suspension, which took effect on 1 March 2024, prohibits the laboratory from carrying out any anti-doping activities, including analyses of urine and blood samples, with the exception of analysis related to the Athlete Biological Passport hematological module," the WADA said in a statement. "This is in order to ensure continued high-quality sample analysis, which also helps preserve athletes' confidence in this process and the wider anti-doping system."

"In February 2024, WADA received a recommendation from the Laboratory Expert Advisory Group (Lab EAG) to suspend the WADA accreditation of the Laboratory due to multiple non-conformities with the International Standard for Laboratories, including non-conformities with Technical Documents and the continued ATR, among other issues," the global watchdog said.

The agency said all samples collected from the lab in Bloemfontein "must be securely transported to another WADA-accredited laboratory." Of all 30 labs that meet the standard, the nearest one is in Doha, Qatar, which is 6,600 kilometers away from Bloemfontein by air. There are other options in India, Portugal, Spain and Türkiye, but none is near South Africa.

When samples are collected from remote athlete training centers and transported long distances to labs, the risks of them degrading and becoming unusable for testing are likely to grow.

The six-month suspension means that the South African lab won't be involved in a global anti-doping program for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, which begins on July 26 in Paris, France.

The Associated Press reported that the suspension would be lifted earlier if the lab met the required international standards.