The new home of the Doping Control and Technological Development Support Laboratory (LABDOP/LADETEC in Portuguese), Brazil’s first World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory, has started taking shape. Construction of the new building, where 6,250 tests will be carried out during the Rio 2016™ Olympic and Paralympic Games, started in February and is expected to be concluded during the first half of 2014.

The building will be part of a complex of new venues belonging to the New Chemistry Hub of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ in Portuguese), to which the laboratory is linked, in the Fundão Island Campus. The construction of the new structure, a legacy for Brazil in the field of Doping Control, is carried out by UFRJ and funded by the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Education. Construction started with excavation, foundation, structural and masonry works.

Once construction is concluded, a period of new equipment testing and security protocols, required by WADA, will start in order 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: “The renovation of LABDOP/LADETEC is a Rio de Janeiro bid commitment led by the Federal Government that is being successfully delivered. 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 start of the new building construction was announced last month during the recent visit of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission for the Rio 2016™ Games who welcomed the development.

IOC Medical Director Dr Richard Budgett said, “We’d like to congratulate Rio 2016 and the Federal Government of Brazil on the start of construction of the new LABDOP/LADETEC building. 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.”

LADETEC is one of 33 WADA accredited laboratories.