Anti-doping efforts in a virtual rowing world

Anti-doping testing is part of the world of being an elite athlete. It can be carried out at a competition(in-competition) or randomly at any time (out-of-competition).

But how does it work when a competition goes virtual?

At a ‘live’ World Rowing event, athletes are subjected to in-competition testing. After their race, they are accompanied to the doping control centre, which is located on-site. This all changes when the event is virtual, when athletes are spread around the globe and racing from home as was the case for this year’s World Rowing Indoor Championships.

Organising in-competition and out-of-competition testing is the task of ITA (International Testing Agency) Anti-Doping Coordinator Natalie Schmutz.

Schmutz has been overseeing the rowing anti-doping effort for the last 15 years, but she says that this was the most interesting event she has ever done.

The effort began with identifying where the athletes would be racing.

“The hard thing was getting peoples’ addresses,” Schmutz says. “With the entries, they didn’t have to submit them. Some athletes were racing from home, others from their clubs. That was the first step.”

Then Schmutz had to contact national anti-doping organisations and private sample collection agencies that would be willing to visit these places around the globe to collect a sample from the athlete. On race day she had a team of controllers ready to go in countries from Australia, to Egypt, to the United States and everything in between.

“I had to know the exact time of the race in different parts of the world and get the doping control officers to turn up ten to 15 minutes after the race had finished. My worst nightmare would have been if somebody knocked on the door while they were still racing. The timing was absolutely crucial,” she says.

One of the doors they knocked on was that of Phil Clapp in Great Britain. Clapp is a seasoned indoor rower who holds several indoor records and was one of the favourites to win at the World Rowing Indoor Championships. He is also an advocate for clean sport and he posted publicly about being tested after the event.

“I just have a little garage behind my house where I did the race, which was good. And then I turned around and there were two people standing there. It took a few seconds before I realised they were probably doping control,” Clapp says.

Clapp says he was surprised to see the control officers turn up, as he understood that doping controls are expensive, but he was also extremely pleased.

“Having doping control, even if it’s just for a few people, really solidifies the event. It makes everyone realise that it’s not a place where you can join if you’re doping,” Clapp says.

Clapp was so passionate about it that he immediately posted to Instagram following his race and his test. “It’s the people that lead from the front that should say, I play clean, I don’t dope, please come and test me. That’s the spirit that I want to have in the sport,” Clapp says.

Schmutz adds that systems to control virtual events are likely to be more frequently used going forward.

“In the future, I know it’s definitely possible and the next event, if there’s another virtual one, there will definitely be testing,” Schmutz says.

For Clapp, testing at virtual events raises the level of the game. “The minute I got tested, I was so happy. In that one moment, I thought, ‘yes, you’ve made this into a proper World Rowing event’. And that makes an enormous difference.”