United States Anti-Doping Agency


The United States Anti-Doping Agency is a non-profit, non-governmental 501 organization and the national anti-doping organization for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent doping in the United States with a performance-enhancing substance, the USADA provides education, leads scientific initiatives, conducts testing, and oversees the results management process. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USADA is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code, which harmonizes anti-doping practices around the world, and is widely considered the basis for the strongest and strictest anti-doping programs to prevent doping in sport.
In 2001, USADA was recognized by the U.S. Congress as "the official anti-doping agency for Olympic, Pan American and Paralympic sport in the United States." While USADA is not a government entity, it is partly funded by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, with its remaining budget generated from contracts for anti-doping services with sport organizations, most notably the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. The United States has also ratified the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport, the first global international treaty against doping in sport, and largely relies on USADA to carry out this commitment.
Travis Tygart has been the chief executive officer of USADA since September 2007.

History

In October 1999, the USOC launched USADA and operations began on October 1, 2000. In 2003, one of USADA's first major undertakings was the revision of the then-current United States anti-doping policies in order to bring them into compliance with the newly adopted World Anti-Doping Code. One of the major adjustments made to the Code by USADA included reducing the standard of proof required in doping-related adjudication. Before modifications, the standard of proof was equal to that required in a United States court of law. After modification, USADA reduced the standard required to establish a doping violation to "comfortable satisfaction of a hearing body".
Notably, USADA were contracted by the UFC to act as an anti-doping authority within the organization, with the partnership beginning in 2015. However, during a publicized dispute over the eligibility of Conor McGregor to rejoin the UFC's roster following a period of absence from USADA's athlete testing pool, USADA announced that they would not renew their contract with the UFC. The deal between USADA and the UFC is set to expire in 2024, after which the UFC's roster will no longer be subject to USADA testing.
Currently, USADA's status and independence from the USOPC contrasts the norm in sport in the United States, as most professional sport organizations manage the anti-doping functions of their own sports. As a result of USADA's ongoing multi-year contracts with the USOPC and the sport national governing bodies, the agency is responsible for managing anti-doping programs, including testing and results management, for each sport's athletes and events throughout the year. Despite its name and status as the country's official anti-doping organization, USADA is a private organization and not subject to government oversight.

World Anti-Doping Code

USADA is responsible for implementation of the World Anti-Doping Agency's Code in the United States. The Code is the core document that harmonizes anti-doping policies, rules, and regulations within sport organizations and among public authorities around the world. It works in conjunction with five International Standards, which aim to foster consistency among anti-doping organizations in: testing; laboratories; therapeutic use exemptions; the list of prohibited substances and methods; and the protection of privacy and personal information. The Code's International Standards are as follows:
  • WADA Prohibited ListOutlines the substances and methods prohibited in sport;
  • International Standard for Testing and Investigations test planning and sample collection process;
  • International Standard for Laboratories Standard for the caliber of laboratories that can process athlete samples;
  • International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions The approval process for allowing athletes to obtain exemptions for prohibited substances when a legitimate medical reason exists;
  • International Standard for Protection of Privacy and Personal Information Privacy protections when collecting and using athlete personal information.
The International Olympic Committee required that all Olympic sports adopt the World Anti-Doping Code prior to August 13, 2004.

Testing

The USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing outlines the organization's testing program and is consistent with the WADA Code and International Standard for Testing. USADA collects both blood and urine samples during in-competition and out-of-competition tests, which can occur at any time, at any location, and without advance notice. Comprehensive, no-notice testing programs like USADA's that are consistent with the WADA Code have often been referred to as Olympic style drug testing.
The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, USOPC-recognized National Governing Bodies for sport, and the World Anti-doping Agency Code have authorized USADA to test and adjudicate anti-doping rule violations for any athlete who:
  • Is a member or license holder of a sport National Governing Body
  • Is participating at an Event or Competition sanctioned by the USOPC or an NGB or participating at an Event or Competition in the United States sanctioned by an International Federation
  • Is a foreign athlete who is present in the United States
  • Has given his/her consent to testing by USADA or who has submitted a Whereabouts Filing to USADA or an IF within the previous 12 months and has not given his or her NGB and USADA written notice of retirement
  • Has been named by the USOPC or an NGB to an international team or who is included in the USADA Registered Testing Pool or is competing in a qualifying event to represent the USOPC or NGB in international competition
  • Is a United States athlete or foreign athlete present in the United States who is serving a period of Ineligibility on account of an anti-doping rule violation and who has not given prior written notice of retirement from all sanctioned competition to the applicable NGB and USADA, or the applicable foreign anti-doping agency or foreign sport association
  • Is being tested by USADA under authorization from the USOPC, an NGB, IF, any NADO, WADA, the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee or the organizing committee of any Event or Competition.
USADA does testing for International Federations, other National Anti-Doping Organizations, and the World Anti-Doping Agency. USADA does not test at the Olympic Games. The Local Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games and WADA oversee testing at the Games.
USADA maintains a group of elite athletes as part of its registered testing pool. Consistent with the WADA Code, athletes in this pool are subject to strict whereabouts requirements in which they must inform the organization of their whereabouts at all times so they can be located for no-notice testing. Critics of WADA Code whereabouts requirements have criticized the requirement as overly strict, while proponents claim the requirement ensure athletes cannot evade tests and take advantage of testing gaps.
USADA determines its test distribution plan or the determination of who, when, and where the organization tests through a combination of many factors that are consistent with the WADA IST. Factors for determining tests may include:
  • Physical demands of the sport and possible performance-enhancing effect that doping may elicit
  • Available doping analysis statistics
  • Available research on doping trends
  • The history of doping in the sport and/or discipline
  • Training periods and the competition calendar, season
  • Information received on possible doping practices
  • Resources aimed at the detection of doping may be specifically targeted.
Even though testing may be described as random, the term "random" is inaccurate, as USADA uses various factors to strategically plan when and where they test athletes. High-profile or elite athletes are tested significantly more frequently than others.
USADA's sample collection process is also consistent with the WADA IST and tests are conducted by doping control officers, who are employed and extensively trained by USADA. For tests in which blood is collected, USADA contracts trained phlebotomists who work in conjunction with a USADA DCO.
In accordance with the WADA International Standard for Laboratories, all samples are analyzed at laboratories that have been accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. In the United States there are only two WADA-accredited labs: the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory in Los Angeles, CA., and the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah. WADA accredited labs comply with the WADA International Standard for Laboratories.

Results management

In compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code and relevant international standards, USADA is charged with handling the results management and adjudication process for U.S. athletes in Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American and ParaPan American Sport. This independent results management process removes the inherent conflict of interest associated with sport organizations trying to both promote and police their sports.
Results management involves processing and communicating the results of drug tests, as well as the adjudication of potential anti-doping rule violations, which can be the result of a positive drug test or an investigation. According to the Code, an ADRV consists of the following:
  • Presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in an athlete's sample
  • Use or attempted use by an athlete of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method
  • Evading, refusing, or failing to submit to sample collection
  • Violation of applicable requirements regarding athlete availability for out-of-competition testing, including failure to file required whereabouts information and missed tests
  • Any combination of three missed tests and/or filing failures, as defined in the International Standard for Testing and Investigations, within a 12-month period by an athlete in a Registered Testing Pool * Tampering or attempted tampering with any part of doping control
  • Possession of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method
  • Trafficking or attempted trafficking of any prohibited substance or prohibited method
  • Administration or attempted administration to any athlete in-competition of any prohibited substance or prohibited method, or administration or attempted administration to any athlete out-of-competition of any prohibited substance or any prohibited method that is prohibited out-of-competition
  • Complicity: Assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, conspiring, covering up, or any other type of intentional complicity involving an anti-doping rule violation, or attempted anti-doping rule violation
  • Association by an athlete or other person subject to the authority of an Anti-Doping Organization in a professional or sport-related capacity with any athlete support person who is serving a period of ineligibility related to one of the above ADRVs; and/or has been convicted outside of sport to have engaged in conduct that would be considered an ADRV.
When evidence meeting one or more of the above violations is found, an independent anti-doping review board will make the recommendation whether USADA should move forward with a sanction. Athletes can either accept or challenge the sanction through an established legal process. In the United States, athletes can take a case before an arbitration panel and make a final appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Sanctions normally include one or more of the following:
  • Disqualification of results in a particular competition or event
  • Forfeiture of any medals, points, and prizes
  • Team disqualification and forfeiture
  • An ineligibility period that may vary according to circumstances
  • Public announcement
  • Name and offense listed on USADA's website indefinitely
Sanctions have ranged from public warnings or time served for completing education, to life-time bans for repeated or particularly egregious cases. USADA maintains a sanctions list of all sanctioned athletes on its website.