EPO Tests Returned Negative

All of the surprise, out of competition EPO tests conducted by FISA in the lead up to the World Rowing Championships have been returned negative, FISA president Denis Oswald announced today (Friday).

A large number of athletes were tested before the competition began in Lucerne, Switzerland with the results only arriving a few hours before Mr Oswald made his announcement.

Though the primary reason for testing the athletes was to establish whether they had used EPO, the laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland, also tested for other banned substances. There were no positive results.

Mr Oswald said the tests had been “totally unannounced and probably unexpected by the rowers” and that he was proud to announce the negative results.

“We (FISA) are in the leading position in the fight against doping and also we are very proud that we have had no positive tests,” he said.

Mr Oswald said that in order to maintain the unexpected nature of doping tests, FISA would not disclose exactly who and how many athletes had been tested.

But a “wide range” of athletes had been tested, he said, including Olympic champions, Olympic medallists and World Championships medallists.

The testing laboratory of Lausanne had told Mr Oswald that they had never analysed as many samples from one sports competition before.

EPO is a substance that artificially raises the vital, oxygen carrying red blood cells in the blood.

In-competition testing for all banned substances continues this week.