WADA Suspends Rio Drug Testing Lab Six Weeks Before Olympics

The World Anti-Doping Agency just dealt another huge blow to the Rio Olympics. The 2016 Summer Games have taken more hits than an aging boxer lately, and on Friday WADA suspended Rio’s drug testing lab just six weeks before the opening ceremony.

The Rio de Janeiro lab has a long history of not living up to international standards. It was suspended in 2013, a year before Brazil hosted the World Cup, then reinstated last year. To win back certification, the lab spent nearly $60 million to improve its facilities and train more than 90 technicians.

WADA has decided that the upgrades and new standards instituted were not enough to clear the facility for use during the 2016 Summer Olympics. The new suspension took effect on Wednesday and the lab can appeal it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland within the next 21 days. While suspended the lab cannot conduct any anti-doping analysis on urine or blood samples.

The suspension could be lifted before the start of the Rio Games but that appears unlikely. WADA will instead select a lab located outside of Brazil and the International Olympic Committee will be in charge of transporting doping samples to that site.

There is still some hope for the Rio lab to be re-certified, but the prospects seem dim. WADA’s incoming director general, Olivier Niggli, had the following to say about the situation:

"“WADA will work closely with the Rio laboratory to resolve the identified issue. The agency will ensure that, for the time being, samples that would have been intended for the laboratory will be transported securely, promptly and with a demonstrable chain of custody to another WADA-accredited laboratory worldwide. “This will ensure that there are no gaps in the antidoping sample analysis procedures and that the integrity of the samples is fully maintained.”"

This is yet another in a long line of serious blows to the Rio Games (read here, here, and here). This summer’s Olympics continue to look like they will be a disaster of epic proportions and no one seems to be doing anything to change that.