More than 90 percent of athletes competing at the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina were tested at least once for banned substances before the Games, the International Testing Agency (ITA) said on Tuesday.
Eye 2800 athletes from more than 90 countries will compete in the Games, which begin on Friday.
International Testing Agency (ITA) concludes the first part of the anti-doping program for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and reports that at least 92 percent of athletes were tested at least once before the event.
ITAwhich conducts all Olympic drug testing from the Tokyo 2021 Games, is responsible for all pre-Games testing as well as testing during the 16 days of competition.
The total was spent over 7100 doping control in the six months before the GamesITA announced.
It is stated that as of August 2025, it has specifically focused on high risk disciplinesand among those sports, 91 percent of athletes were tested at least once, and 66 percent at least three times before the Olympic Games.
Of the 8 percent of untested athletes, 28 percent belong to high-risk disciplines. ITA will pay special attention to these athletes during the Gamesit is stated.
The sports with the highest percentage of conducted tests were ski jumping, biathlon, sledding and speed and short skatingwhile the national Olympic committees with the highest percentage of testing were China, the United States, Germany and Spain, with over 94 percent of athletes tested.
Because doping was a major concern a few years agothe International Olympic Committee decided to conduct comprehensive pre-Games testing to root out as many doping scams as possible before they even reach the Games.
Dozens of medals have had to be retroactively redistributed from past Olympics, particularly those in London 2012 and Sochi 2014, years after the competition, after retesting samples from past Games using newer methods.
Italian biathlete Rebecca Passler was banned from the Milan Cortina Olympics on Monday after testing positive for banned substances in a doping test conducted by the national anti-doping agency.
(Hina | Photo: Freepik)
