The AFLD and its German counterpart, NADA, have signed a staff exchange agreement to learn from each other’s best practices. First experience sharing with an agent from the education department of each agency: Lara Belke (NADA) and Armony Dumur (AFLD).

Lara Belke (NADA)

Armony Dumur (AFLD

Can you briefly describe the education department of your national anti-doping agency?

Lara Belke: “NADA began organising information workshops on anti-doping around fifteen years ago to raise awareness among young sportspeople. We have continued to grow and now have a dedicated education department with 8 staff.”

Armony Dumur: “The AFLD has had an education department since 2021. Education was previously attached to the communication and prevention department created in 2018. We currently have 8 agents with very different backgrounds and training, but all equally useful in raising awareness among the Agency’s various publics.”

What is the main thrust of your educational offering?

LB: “We have developed the ‘Together against doping’ educational programme to support federations and clubs in preventing doping, particularly among young athletes. We provide them with teaching materials and an e-learning content application, and we regularly organise webinars and workshops in the field.”

AD: “We also offer a wide range of educational resources for athletes and their support staff (coaches, medical staff, parents, etc.). In particular, last year we launched PODIUM, the AFLD’s e-learning platform. It includes several courses that we have developed for our different audiences. In partnership with Paris 2024 and as part of the 2024 Olympic Games, for example, we have developed a course on anti-doping for the general public. In addition to these resources, we can also provide face-to-face or remote training for athletes and/or federations, as was the case in the run-up to the 2024 Olympic Games.”

The AFLD and NADA both offer an online search engine to check that a drug does not contain a substance banned by WADA. NADA also offers a list of authorised drugs. What is the purpose of this tool?

LB: “Not all pharmacists are familiar with the list of banned products, and athletes want to know what they can buy without taking any risks. The aim is to reassure them by listing as many everyday products as possible so that they can treat themselves with complete peace of mind. We work with a pharmacist who helps us update this list with the most commonly used products and those that are appearing on the market.”

What is your strategy regarding anti-doping educators?

LB: “We have around fifty educators that we employ on a freelance basis. They all receive six hours of theoretical and practical training before being accredited by NADA to carry out interventions. Their accreditation is renewed every six months.”

AD: “Since 2021, we have trained and accredited more than 220 educators in federations, professional associations and other sports structures (INSEP, CREPS, etc.). The training for anti-doping educators is divided into 2 parts: the first part is an e-learning course, to be completed at your own pace, followed by two days of face-to-face training, at the Agency or in the regions, in the presence of 2 trainers. Anti-doping educators are accredited for two years following successful completion of the course.”

What is your position on nutritional supplements?

AD: “We remind athletes that there is no such thing as zero risk when it comes to consuming food supplements. Unlike the drugs industry, the food supplements industry is not regulated, and these products may contain banned substances that are not mentioned on the label or packaging. That’s why we recommend that sportspeople consult a health professional to carry out a nutritional assessment and evaluate their needs before taking any supplements. It is also essential to eat a healthy, balanced diet first.

For those who still wish to use supplements, it is advisable to choose products bearing the European AFNOR EN NF 17444 standard. Although this standard does not guarantee the total absence of prohibited substances, it does reduce the risk. The AFNOR standard is a voluntary standard under which manufacturers undertake to comply with certain manufacturing requirements to ensure that their products do not contain prohibited substances.”

LB : “As a doctor in food science and nutrition, I’m very keen to educate athletes and make them aware of their responsibilities when it comes to using food supplements. It’s up to them to assess the potential risk of doping or contamination before deciding to consume a particular product. To help them do this, we have joined forces with other organisations to create the ‘Cologne list’ of supplements laboratory-tested by the Center for Preventive Doping Research at the German Sport University Cologne. This list can be accessed online and is updated regularly. It significantly reduces the risk of consuming a contaminated supplement, even if the laboratory only tests a specific batch and cannot commit to the entire production process.”

The AFLD is at Club France, in the Grande halle de la Villette, throughout the Paris 2024 Games to meet athletes, the sporting movement and its partners. At the same time, the AFLD and the International Testing Agency (ITA) are working with Paris 2024 on a daily basis, within the anti-doping coordination and command centre, to ensure that anti-doping tests and investigations are carried out properly throughout the Olympic Games.

In the space of just a few years, the AFLD has changed completely. AFLD missions have expanded and its capacity for action has increased. With the constant support of the French State, AFLD has reached the unprecedented level of 12,000 samples to be taken in 2023 and is now one of Europe’s leading anti-doping organisations. Throughout last year, the Agency was fully involved in the preparations for the Paris 2024 Games. In particular, AFLD has been working alongside the sporting movement and the athletes themselves to support the Olympic and Paralympic delegations and enable them to set an example in their preparations and their quest for medals.

In 2024, for the first time, the committee responsible for organising the Games will rely on a service contract signed with the host country’s national anti-doping organisation. While the testing programme will be defined by the International Testing Agency (ITA), to which the International Olympic Committee has delegated its authority, and by the International Paralympic Committee, the AFLD will play a major operational role, alongside Paris 2024, in carrying out the tests that will be carried out as part of the Games. AFLD will also deploy its investigative capacity on the ground.

From now on, the Agency wants to build an Olympic legacy, so that the advances made in the context of the Paris 2024 Games benefit all athletes, whatever their level. An online education platform with a wealth of content tailored to the diversity of audiences, a territorial network of over 200 educators, numerous targeted controls and particularly effective judicial and administrative cooperation are just some of the actions that need to be continued so that our country can remain worthy of the great sporting nation that it is when it comes to anti-doping.

Read the summary (ENGLISH)

Read the full report (FRENCH)

World Rugby and AFLD, the French National Anti-Doping Organisation, have announced details of the anti-doping testing programme for Rugby World Cup 2023 in France, supporting a fair contest.

Rugby World Cup 2023 will be rugby’s greatest celebration of togetherness in the 200^th anniversary of the sport, and AFLD will provide independent sample collection for the tournament as the official Sample Collection Agency.

The AFLD’s 2022 activity report emphasizes that the Agency is fully committed to preparing for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (OG) alongside sporting institutions, in order to ensure a comprehensive and robust anti-doping system, recently reinforced by the articles of the « loi du 19 mai » on the Olympic Games.

One year ahead of the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Agency has been working for many months to put in place a comprehensive and robust anti-doping program focused on the future French delegation and its support staff, in application of the objectives of its 2022-2024 strategic plan. AFLD can rely on the network of anti-doping referents in the 90 national federations, half of whom will have been trained by the Agency by 2022.

As the national authority responsible for anti-doping education, by 2022 the Agency has trained 89 educators from federations, players’ unions and training structures such as INSEP. They will be able to rely on an e-learning platform developed in 2022 and implemented from mid-2023. Their role will be to train athletes and training managers, in order to promote anti-doping prevention among top-level athletes, as well as schoolchildren and young club athletes.

Preparations for the 2024 Olympic Games mean that AFLD will be focusing even more on its core missions. In 2022, AFLD passed the milestone of 10,000 tests. More than three-quarters of these tests involved international or national-level athletes. These tests are no longer produced randomly, but are based entirely on criteria specific to disciplines, sports and athletes’ performances. Whereabouts rules have been extended to apply to a greater number of top-level athletes, particularly those involved in team sports.

Sustained result-management activity :

Disciplinary activity has also been stepped up: more than 80 cases were processed in 2022, nearly 60 of which resulted in sanctions. Half of these sanctions resulted from a decision by the « Commission des sanctions », the other half from an administrative conciliation agreement signed by the athlete. This procedure has reduced the average time required to process cases to around 7 months.

In terms of intelligence and investigations, the AFLD received 127 reports of anti-doping rule violations. AFLD forwarded 13 reports to the judicial or administrative authorities, or to other anti-doping organizations, and opened 11 investigations into non-analytical violations (failure to comply with whereabouts obligations, falsification, etc.). At the same time, 5 investigations were closed, leading to the first sanctions handed down at the end of this investigation procedure.

Read the summary of the 2022 activity report