Bonnie Mugabe
22 July 2008
Kigali — Rwanda's Olympics team will undergo a mandatory dope test ahead of the Beijing Games set for August 8 to 24 in China.
The Chef de Mission of the Rwandan delegation to the Games has said that the athletes will be subjected to the tests anytime without prior notice.
"The dope tests will be done secretly. At the moment we don't know the time and place but all athletes are obliged to go for the tests," Thierry Ntwali told Times Sport yesterday.
The dope test would be conducted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ensure that users of prohibited drugs do not find their way into the Games and ensure no one gets expelled from the global event because of drugs.
The IOC announced that between July 27 and August 24 all Olympic competitors worldwide would be tested at anytime and place.
The Olympic body in collaboration with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (Bocog) would conduct the dope test.
According to information posted on its website, IOC will test the contestants at any place, including the Olympic venue, village and outside training facilities.
Similar tests were also done during the 2000 games held in Sydney, Australia and the 2004 games held in Athens, Greece.
The IOC has confirmed that the 4,500 drug tests which will be administered during the Beijing Games are 25 percent more than those conducted in Athens and 90 percent more than the tests in Sydney.
Rwanda is among the IOC affiliate member countries expecting to send athletes to the games, held after every four years.
Rwanda will be represented by four athletes including two runners (Dieudonne Disi, 10.000m and Epiphanie Nyirabarame, marathon) and two swimmers (Pamela Girimbabazi and Jackson Niyomugabo).
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