Australian swimmers were drug-tested "more than those of any other nation last year" under the Int'l Swimming Federation’s (FINA) out-of-competition testing program, according to Nicole Jeffery of THE AUSTRALIAN. The statistics, published on FINA's website, show that it ordered 108 tests on 50 Australian swimmers last year, more than those conducted on the world's No. 1 team, the U.S. (92 tests on 46 swimmers) and "substantially more" than on any of Australia's other major int'l competitors, China (66 tests on 33 swimmers), Russia (50 tests on 32) and France (28 tests on 11). The total number of out-of-competition tests completed last year was "the lowest in more than a decade, just 894, and only 285 of those involved blood testing." The level of testing in Australia "appears consistent with last year" (76 tests on 38 swimmers in eight months). However there remain some "startling anomalies in the FINA anti-doping program." Only seven swimmers in "the entire continent of Africa" have been tested this year, while some of the highest-profile swimmers in the world have "barely been tested out-of-competition" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/10).
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Source: THE AUSTRALIAN
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