Twenty nine adverse analytical findings (AAFs) were recorded in Italy during 2020, 0.55% of 5,214 anti-doping tests performed during 2020, a statistical Report (click here to download) produced by Italy’s national anti-doping agency (NADO Italia) has revealed. More tests were performed outside of competition (3,144) than in competition (2,070). Two of the 29 AAFs were related to authorised use due to therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) and so have been discounted from the table on the right.

Football was the sport in which most tests were performed during the year, with 1,950 tests making up 37.4% of the total performed. No AAFs were recorded by footballers. Cycling reported the highest number with four AAFs involving seven substances. Only two AAFs were recorded by female athletes during 2020.

The AAF statistics do not include the 37 ‘whereabouts’ failures recorded by NADO Italia during the year. Athletes who are part of a Registered Testing Pool (RTP) must provide location data showing where they will be available for testing for one hour in every 24, in addition to overnight accommodation and training schedules, three months in advance (although this can later be amended). 

Italian athletes applied fo 473 therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) during 2020. Two hundred were granted, 77 were rejected, and 196 were not needed, either because the substance involved wasn’t prohibited or was administered in a manner that is not prohibited. The most commonly requested TUE was for glucocorticoids. NADO Italia also received 77 reports from whistleblowers via the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) ‘Speak Up!’ platform.

Italy’s national anti-doping tribunal (TNA) heard 473 disciplinary procedures during the year involving 64 athletes affiliated to a national sporting federation, and 384 non-affiliated athletes. Two cases were declared as inadmissible. The table on the right details the alleged anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) involved. Figures were not provided about how many of these cases have been concluded.

As only 47 cases heard by the TNA were the result of the presence of a prohibited substance in an athlete’s sample, NADO Italia’s statistics suggest that intelligence plays a huge part in bringing anti-doping cases forward. Doping is a criminal offence in Italy.