Between 800 and 1,400 aspirant Olympians avoided getting caught for doping last year as a result of a huge drop in drug testing during the Covid-19 pandemic, exclusive analysis for The Mail on Sunday shows.
While it is unclear how many of those subsequently qualified for the Tokyo Olympics and will appear at the delayed 2020 Games that begin on Friday, it is certain the global health emergency has given a shot in the arm to drug cheats.
The shocking numbers are based on detailed models that consider not only how headline global drug testing plummeted from 306,000 tests in 2019 to 168,000 last year, but on precise and consistent patterns of adverse findings in specific sports over a number of years.
Perhaps the starkest illustration of how Covid gave a licence to cheat to athletes willing to compete corruptly came in April last year.
In a ‘typical’ April, around 25,000 drug tests are conducted around the world, with roughly one per cent of those positive, or 250 cheats exposed.
Between 800 and 1,400 aspirant Olympians avoided getting caught for doping during Covid
In April 2020, when 33 nations in Europe alone ceased all testing, and much of the rest of the planet followed suit, just 578 tests took place worldwide, with just a handful of dopers caught.
‘As the primary approach taken to detect doping in sport is through in and out-of-competition drug tests, doping may well have gone undetected during the pandemic,’ said Sue Backhouse, a professor of psychology and nutrition at Leeds Beckett University, where she leads the sporting integrity team.
‘A reduced threat of detection, combined with an Olympic year where medals are in sight, intensifies the risk of doping. Research conducted at Leeds Beckett University found that athletes appeared most willing to dope if they were to suffer an injury, a dip in performance, or think others are doping and getting away with it.’
Prof Backhouse pointed out that a lack of testing during the pandemic might adversely affect athletes who excel in Tokyo.
The coronavirus pandemic has seen a dramatic drop in doping tests taken by athletes
In April 2020, 578 tests took place worldwide, down from a normal 25,000 tests taken
‘Stunning
