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WADA says possible issues with redesigned sample bottles

The World Anti-Doping Agency is looking into possible integrity issues with urine-collection bottles that were redesigned after the Russian Olympic doping scandal.

Urine-collection bottles were redesigned after Russian doping scandal

The Associated Press ·
An example of a sample bottle lid from the latest Berlinger Special BEREG-Kit for human urine doping testing lies posed for photographs in London, Monday, Dec. 12, 2016. World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren found that FSB agents tampered with samples during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, leaving no sign of scratches or marks to untrained eyes. (Matt Dunham/The Associated Press)

The World Anti-Doping Agency is looking into possible integrity issues with urine-collection bottles that were redesigned after the Russian Olympic doping scandal.

WADA said it learned on Jan. 19, less than a month before Pyeongchang, that the bottles could be susceptible to manual opening upon freezing of a sample.

Investigators found that Russians were able to surreptitiously open bottles at the Sochi Olympics and exchange dirty urine samples with clean ones previously provided the same athlete.

That led to a redesign of the bottles, and WADA said if there is, in fact, a flaw, it "will raise concerns and questions."

Russia's Olympic committee has been banned from Pyeongchang, and this weekend, the International Olympic Committee said it had approved 169 Russian athletes to compete as "Olympic Athletes from Russia."

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