Second European Games in Belarus

Minsk to send European Games doping samples to Vienna

Photo Reuters

MINSK, 28 February (BelTA) – Doping control samples of the athletes of the 2nd European Games will be sent to a laboratory in Vienna, Director of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) Denis Muzhzhukhin told the media at the SB. Belarus Segodnya press center on 28 February, BelTA has learned. 

According to the NADA head, it will be medal winners who will be tested for prohibited substances in the first place. Besides, any athlete can be selected for testing. If we learn during the games that a specific athlete is taking a prohibited substance or is going to, we will watch this athlete closely. According to Denis Muzhzhukhin, different sports apply different doping testing approaches. There are so-called dangerous sports such as cycling, athletics, wrestling, and canoeing which require special attention and control.

The team of doping control officers will be international. It will comprise 30 foreign and 10 Belarusian specialists. The doping control officers will be helped by about 200 volunteers from different countries, including Australia, Canada and the United States. Volunteers will be tasked with notifying athletes and accompanying them to the sample-collection sites. There will be 15 of them to correspond to the number of sports.

Doping control procedure is quite specific and therefore the equipment of the sites for sample collection is very important, said Yekaterina Kurilenkova, a doping control manager of the 2nd European Games. To speed up the process athletes are sometimes given refreshments. Priority will be given to non-carbonated water. There will be no soda and beer, although beer is allowed in some sports, for example hockey.

When preparing for the upcoming European Games Belarus closely cooperates with the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and the international anti-doping services, Denis Muzhzhukhin also said. The information regarding the total number of samples to be taken during the games in Minsk is not disclosed.

The 2nd European Games will be held at 29 facilities on 21-30 June. Taking part in the competitions will be about 4,000 athletes from 50 countries.

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