Anti-Doping Rule Violations

Anti-doping has set regulations to ensure that sport is kept clean, similarly to sports and their rules for competing.

Breaking the anti-doping rules can lead to serious consequences such as a ban from all sport.

The Code outlines the anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs). It is vital that athletes and their support personnel/staff make sure that they are informed about the violations and the severity of breaking them.

All eleven apply to athletes and seven (in bold) also apply to coaches and support personnel too:

Presence
Use or Attempted Us
Evading, refusing, or Failing to Submit to Sample Collection
Whereabouts failures
Tampering or attempted tampering
Possession
Trafficking or attempted trafficking
Administration (i.e. without aiding or abetting)
Complicity or Attempted Complicity
Prohibited Association
Acts by an Athlete or Other Person to Discourage or Retaliate Against Reporting to Authorities (punishable with a 2 year to a lifetime ban)

Click here for a further explanation of the anti-doping rule violations, as well as, any changes to ADRVs and Bans under the 2021 code.

Consequences

For ADRV’s of presence or use of a prohibited substance, the rules are as follows:

If you intended to cheat, whatever the substance, the period of ineligibility is four years
Otherwise, it is two years – unless you can show you had no significant fault or negligence, in which case ineligibility may be reduced by up to a maximum of one year (that is, to a minimum ineligibility of one year)
If the violation involved a specified substance or a contaminated product, and you can demonstrate you had no significant fault, ineligibility may range from two years to a reprimand (depending on your level of fault)

You should also be aware that multiple ADRV’s, or the presence of multiple substances may increase the sanction you face beyond four years.

For some ADRV’s the penalty can be a life ban from sport.

For information on individuals serving a ban from sport, visit UKAD’s sanction page.

Reporting Doping

Athletes need to feel confident they are competing against clean competitors just as those entering competitive sport need to believe their role models have achieved success as a clean athlete.

We all have a duty to keep protecting clean sport in the UK whether that’s behind-the-scenes or in the ring (athletes, coaches and parents).

If you feel as though something is wrong, it is your responsibility to speak out. UKAD will guarantee that your identity will be kept confidential on the ‘Protect your Sport’ platform:

Email: protectyoursport@reportdoping.com
Phone (Open 24 hours a day): 08000 32 23 32
WhatsApp: +44 (0) 7587 634711
Online form

The 11th latest Anti-Doping Rule Violation was introduced in the 2021 Code.

This is designed to protect anyone reporting anti-doping from intimidation. This ADRV is punishable with a 2 year to a lifetime ban for athletes or support personnel who are found in breach of this.