Home Health & Fitness Building of Rio de Janeiro’s First Anti-Doping Laboratory Starts

Building of Rio de Janeiro’s First Anti-Doping Laboratory Starts

0

Brazil is getting its first World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory in preparation for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

Design of Brazil's first WADA-accredited doping control lab.

The new home of the Doping Control and Technological Development Support Laboratory has started taking shape. Construction of the new building, where 7,000 tests will be carried out during the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, started in February and is expected to finish during early 2014.

The building— a significant advance for Brazil in the field of Doping Control—will be part of a complex of new venues belonging to the New Chemistry Hub of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), to which the laboratory is linked, in the Fundão Island Campus. The construction of the new structure is being carried out by UFRJ and funded by the Ministry of Sports that in 2012 transferred about $6.8 million for this purpose.

Once construction ends, a period of new equipment testing and security protocols recommended by WADA will start to ensure its successful accreditation.

Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the President of the Organising Committee for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, celebrated the start of construction led by Brazil’s federal government.

“The fight against doping is one of the issues that the Olympic and Paralympic Movements has embraced as a priority and the laboratory’s expansion will be a great Rio 2016 Games contribution to these efforts in Brazil and in South America as a whole,” he said.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission for the Rio 2016 Games, who visited the site last month, welcomed the development of the new doping control lab.

IOC Medical Director Dr. Richard Budgett said: “This new laboratory will help us to continue implementing our zero tolerance policy in the fight against doping and to ensure the necessary support and protection of athletes who are competing cleanly in the Olympic Games.”

Brazil’s new lab is one of 33 WADA-accredited laboratories.

To stay on top of the latest news about the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, sign up at the Rio 2016 website.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.