The Brazilian Federal Government is confident that the country’s doping control laboratory in Rio de Janeiro will be reaccredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) next week. The Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory (LBCD/LADETEC) was certified to analyse blood for athletes’ biological passports by WADA in March and is now close to receiving full accreditation, which would enable it to carry out doping control tests during the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The laboratory, which is based at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), lost its accreditation in 2013. However, it has since been moved into a new R$134 million (US$45 million) building, where staff have been working since August 2014 to ensure full reaccreditation, following a timeline established by WADA.

WADA is due to make a decision on reaccreditation on 13 May in Montreal, Canada, during a meeting of their Foundation Board. Providing LBCD is reaccredited, it will be able to analyse samples for doping control during the Rio 2016 test events, which start this July.

Starting in August 2014, LBCD/LADETEC entered a probation period, which included the analysis of four batches of samples sent by WADA and three audit visits by the agency, in addition to receiving consultancy by foreign experts.

The decision to construct the new LBCD/LADETEC building, which is larger and has more modern facilities, was taken when Brazil won the right to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Once the laboratory is reaccredited, it will be able to perform all types of blood and urine analysis, enabling it to conduct all doping control tests for Brazilian sport.

The Brazilian government has spent R$134 million on the high-tech new laboratory (Photo: Ministry of Sport)

The government and laboratory staff stressed that the loss of the accreditation in 2013 was not due to mistakes in the analysis of athlete sample results, but because of “nonconformities” in relation to blind tests carried out by WADA. They said the laboratory’s equipment at the time was out of date, but stressed that this situation was has been “completely turned around with the new facilities, equipment and an increase in technical staff”.

The government has invested R$134 million (US$45 million) in the new building, as well as R$54 million (US$18 million) for new equipment, materials and operations. The project is expected to leave an important legacy to Brazil’s scientific, academic and sporting communities.

“I believe that the laboratory is one of the main legacies of the Rio 2016 Games, because it will guarantee that athletes who train hard will face their rivals in equal conditions, and this is the principal of fair competition,” said Ricardo Leyser, executive secretary of the Ministry of Sport.

The laboratory will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, during the Rio 2016 Games, with 240 staff, including 100 volunteers from laboratories already accredited by WADA. While there is no pre-established number of analyses that will be performed, for the London 2012 Games, 5,500 tests were done during the Olympic Games and 1,500 during the Paralympic Games.