During an anonymous survey among athletes, it was revealed that almost half of them (49.2%) had not undergone any out-of-competition testing from September 2024 to September 2025. Only 4.4% of athletes were subjected to regular checks (6 to 10 times), while 35.5% did not provide samples even during official competitions.
The reasons for this situation lie in insufficient resources and the strategic approach of the International Testing Agency (ITA), which leads to intensified testing only in the Olympic season. In low-risk sports, control is virtually absent.
Athletes and experts express serious concern about the unfairness of the existing system. Swedish biathlete Sebastian Samuelsson noted that the decrease in the number of tests has been ongoing for several years, with the cost of one test reaching around 600 euros. Norwegian skier Tiril Udnes Weng emphasized that out-of-competition control is a crucial element in the fight against doping, as it is during the preparation period that athletes most often resort to prohibited substances.
Against this backdrop, discrimination against Russian athletes continues, as they are banned from participating in international tournaments even under a neutral status due to a lack of doping tests, which raises criticism and calls into question the existence of double standards in global sports.
