Page Topics

WHAT IS DOPING?
THERAPEUTIC USE EXEMPTIONS
    Therapeutic Use Exemption Application Form
    Therapeutic Use Exemption Application Form (Abbreviated Version)
WHAT IS A REGISTERED TESTING POOL?

WHAT IS DOPING?

FINA defines doping as the occurrence of one or more of the following anti-doping rule violations [see DC 2.1 through DC 2.8]:

It is each BSF Competitor’s personal duty to ensure that no Prohibited Substance enters his or her body. Competitors are responsible for any Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers found in their bodily Specimens. Accordingly, proving intent, fault, negligence or knowing Use on the Competitor’s part is not necessary to establish an anti-doping violation. The detected presence of any quantity of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in a Competitor’s Sample constitutes an anti-doping rule violation, except those substances for which WADA specifically identifies a quantitative reporting threshold in the Prohibited List. As an exception to item #1 above, the Prohibited List may establish special criteria for the evaluation of Prohibited Substances that Competitors can also produce endogenously [i.e., produced or made inside the human body. For example, insulin made by a person’s own pancreas is endogenous insulin. Contrast this with exogenous insulin, which is commercially produced from pork or beef pancreas, or by biosynthetic processes, and is therefore produced or made outside the human body].

The success or failure of the Use of a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method is immaterial. Use or Attempted Use of a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method is sufficient to commit an anti-doping rule violation [see DC 2.2.1].

Possession by a Competitor at any time or place of a substance prohibited by the Code in Out-of-Competition Testing or a Prohibited Method is an anti-doping rule violation, unless the Competitor establishes that the Possession is pursuant to a Therapeutic Use Exemption or other acceptable justification [see DC 2.6.1]. Possession of a Prohibited Substance that the Code prohibits in Out-of-Competition Testing or a Prohibited Method by Competitor Support Personnel regarding a Competitor, Event or training, is also an anti-doping rule violation unless the Competitor Support Personnel establishes that the Possession is pursuant to a Therapeutic Use Exemption granted to a Competitor or other acceptable justification [see DC 2.6.2].

It is clear from the above passages that the anti-doping rules violations are based on the principles of strict liability: the BSF Swimmer is responsible for whatever he or she ingests. BSF Swimmers must remember that an anti-doping rule violation can occur no matter whether the Swimmer deliberately Uses a Prohibited Substance, or unknowingly Uses a product containing a Prohibited Substance. The presence of a Prohibited Substance, or evidence of the Use of a Prohibited Method in a Swimmer’s Sample, is an anti-doping rule violation, no matter how it got there.

Similarly, any coach, trainer, manager, agent, team staff, official, medical or paramedical personnel working with or treating BSF Competitors participating in or preparing for a sports Competition can be guilty of an anti-doping rule violation under items #5, #6, #7 and #8 above. The penalties are not worth it.

THERAPEUTIC USE EXEMPTIONS

On the recommendation of the DCRB, the FINA Executive may grant a Therapeutic Use Exemption [TUE] to a Competitor without compromising its Doping Control Rules. Before granting such exemption, the Competitor must convince the DCRB and the FINA Executive that the TUE is medically justified and will not create a competitive advantage. FINA evaluates requests for Therapeutic Use Exemptions according to WADA’s International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions. [The most current International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions is available on WADA's website at www.wada-ama.org]. The FINA Executive may grant a TUE under such conditions as it deems appropriate, to ensure that a Competitor does not gain a competitive advantage. BSF Competitors included in FINA’s Registered Testing Pool and other BSF Competitors before participating in any International Competition must obtain a TUE from FINA. All other BSF Competitors must obtain a TUE from the Bahamas’ National Anti-Doping Organisation. The BSF must promptly report these latter TUE’s to FINA and to WADA. WADA may review the granting or denial of Therapeutic Use Exemptions.

A Therapeutic Use Exemption or ‘TUE’ is essentially a “waiver from liability” for BSF Competitors with documented medical conditions requiring the Use of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method. FINA may grant a TUE to a BSF International-Level Competitor and the Bahamas Olympic Association [BOA], as the National Anti-Doping Organisation, may grant a TUE to a BSF Competitor at the National Team-level or to a BSF Competitor serving a period of Ineligibility who is subject to Doping Control.

Additionally, WADA may review the granting of TUE’s to any BSF International-Level Competitor or BSF National Team-level Competitor in the BOA’s Registered Testing Pool. At the request of any of these Competitors, WADA may review the denial of a TUE. WADA may also reverse the granting or denial of a TUE to a BSF Competitor if it determines that FINA or the BOA did not comply with the International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions.

FINA Forms to download (in PDF format):

1)   Therapeutic Use Exemption Application Form   (162kb)
[BSF international-level swimmers must submit this form to FINA and national-level swimmers must submit this form to the National Anti-Doping Organisation for The Bahamas, currently the BOA, for their approval. FINA or the NADO is responsible for submitting this form and their decision to WADA.]

2)    Therapeutic Use Exemption Application Form (Abbreviated Version)    (127kb)
[Use this form solely for BSF international- or national-level swimmers using Beta-2 Agonists by inhalation and corticosteroids by non-systemic routes prescribed for asthma or bronchoconstriction, as they are previously authorised by WADA.]

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WHAT IS A REGISTERED TESTING POOL?

Under the International Standard For Testing, both FINA and the Bahamas’ Anti-Doping Organisation [i.e., the BOA] are responsible for defining and documenting the criteria for the inclusion of Athletes in their Registered Testing Pools. At a minimum, FINA’s Registered Testing Pool comprises International-Level Athletes, being those Athletes/Competitors from The Bahamas and elsewhere who compete at a high level of international Competition in the aquatic disciplines [see DC 14.4 and DC 14.5 or Paragraphs 16.4 and 16.5 below].

At a minimum, the BOA’s National Registered Testing Pool comprises three classes of Bahamian Athletes, namely:

(a)   International-Level Athletes, being those Athletes from The Bahamas who compete at a high level of international Competition in all Olympic and Paralympic sports and recognised national federations; and

(b)   National-level Athletes, being those Athletes from The Bahamas who are part of national teams in Olympic and Paralympic sports and recognised national federations; and

(c)   Bahamian Athletes who are serving periods of Ineligibility or Provisional Suspensions as Consequences of Anti-Doping Rules Violations.

The International Standard for Testing requires both organisations to develop and document a test distribution plan based on the above information, the number of Athletes/Competitors per sport/discipline in their Registered Testing Pools and the evaluation outcomes of previous test distribution planning cycles. Based on the number of Sample collections allocated to each sport/discipline in the test distribution plan, each organisation must select Athletes/Competitors for Sample collection using Target Testing, Weighted and random selection methods.

Both organisations must allocate the number of Sample collections by type of Sample collection for each sport/discipline, including No Advance Notice, Out-of-Competition, In-Competition, blood and urine Sample collection, as required, to achieve effective deterrence.

At a minimum, FINA and the BOA will consider Target Testing Athletes/Competitors based on the following information:

• Injury;

• Withdrawal or absence from an expected Competition;

• Going into or out of retirement;

• Behaviour indicating doping;

• Sudden major improvements in performance;

• Changes in Athlete/Competitor whereabouts information that suggests a potential increase in the risk of doping, including moving to a remote location;

• Athlete/Competitor sport performance history;

• Details of past Doping Control;

• Athlete/Competitor reinstatement after a period of Ineligibility; and

• Reliable information from a third party.