Increased doping in pandemic ‘not a particular worry’, says WADA chief

MONTREAL – World anti-doping chiefs insist they are not overly worried by athletes who may have tried to take advantage of reduced drugs testing programmes during the coronavirus pandemic.

With just one month to go before the Tokyo Olympics, Olivier Niggli, the director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), told AFP in an interview that testing levels had made a significant, and timely, recovery.

“For sure, at the beginning of the pandemic, there had been a slow down of testing and anti-doping due to health measures,” Niggli said.

Although Covid-19 restrictions had had an initial impact, “we are now back to a level which is even higher than it used to be,” Niggli added.

“A lot of countries have simply…