20.07.2012

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) is introducing an Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) into Australian sport from 1 July 2012.

What is an Athlete Biological Passport?

The ABP is an electronic record of an athlete's biological values that is developed over time from multiple collections of blood samples. The ABP differs from traditional detection methods by looking for the effects of blood doping rather than detecting the prohibited substances or methods used. The advantage of this approach is the biological effects of a performance-enhancing agent are commonly present and detectable for a longer period than the agent itself. Programs incorporating an ABP have been successfully implemented internationally. 

A number of cases relying on the ABP have successfully been run through the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The ABP will be focused on Australia’s elite athletes; however, all athletes in ASADA’s testing jurisdiction should be aware they can be selected for ABP testing.

What it will mean for Australian athletes?

The program will affect the way Australian athletes provide blood samples and new testing procedures will be implemented to accommodate the ABP. The main differences to the current process will be:

• The ABP testing process will include a two-hour waiting period following training or competition.
• ASADA will be collecting information from athletes via a questionnaire, which will take about ten minutes to complete.

The questionnaire will also be used in ASADA’s traditional blood testing program, however, the two hour waiting period, following training or competition, will only apply to athletes tested under ABP conditions. Further information Full details of the testing process are available through ASADA’s revised Athlete Testing Guide, located on the ASADA website. Further information can also be found on ASADA’s:

·         website: www.asada.gov.au (includes Q&As)

·         Twitter page: twitter.com/anti_doping

·         Facebook page: facebook.com/pureperformance

·         blog: asada.govspace.gov.au

Athlete Biological Passport

Q&A

How many samples are required to obtain an Athlete Biological Passport? The ABP testing will enable the monitoring of athletes over the lifetime of their career. Each test allows an athlete’s biological values to be compared with future or past collections and to be monitored for fluctuations which may indicate the use of a prohibited substance or method. The number of samples required to generate an athlete’s ABP varies from athlete to athlete.