November 25, 2011 – This FIS Fact Sheet is intended to provide an update on FIS Anti-Doping Activities leading up to and during the 2011/12 season. The fight against doping remains an important focus for FIS, through a zero-tolerance policy on doping and cheating in sport.

The FIS Anti-Doping Program for the coming season will be an extension of previous seasons’ program. Last year, the emphasis of the program was on out-of-competition testing, collecting athlete biological passport (ABP) tests from identified top athletes in Cross-Country Skiing and Nordic Combined. This season, Alpine Skiing and Ski Jumping will be included in the ABP. The consequence is that the athletes in these disciplines will also experience out of competition blood as well as urine tests any time.

1. Out-of-Competition Testing Program
Following the practice of the previous season and mandated by the World Anti-Doping Code, no notice, out-of-competition target tests remain the primary focus of testing within the FIS Anti-Doping program 2011/12. The International Testing Pool of FIS currently consists of 358 athletes in the six FIS Olympic disciplines.

From 1st May to 15th November 2011, FIS has conducted the following number of out-of-competition tests

FIS Out-of-Competition Tests  1st May-15th November 2011

	Urine	EPO	Blood tests	Blood passport
Cross-Country	118	118	46	124
Nordic Combined	20	20	11	21
Ski Jumping	10		10	2
Alpine	50	3	46	50
Freestyle	9
Snowboard	10
Total	217	141	113	197

In addition, during the same time period, WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) has conducted the following number of out-of-competition tests:

WADA Out-of-Competition Tests 1st May-15th November 2011

	Urine	EOP	Blood tests	Blood passport
Cross-Country	6	6	6	6

These numbers do not include the out-of-competition tests conducted by the National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) under their responsibility.

To view a statistical summary of tests conducted during the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons, please refer HERE and HERE.

2. In-Competition Testing Program
FIS conducts in-competition testing at selected FIS World Cup events. Additionally, in-competition testing is coordinated with many National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) and in-competition testing is carried out by NADOS at a number of FIS World Cup events. So far, FIS in-competition testing took place at the following FIS World Cup events this season:

Alpine: Sölden (AUT), 12 urine tests
Cross-Country: Sjusjöen (NOR), 12 urine tests
Ski Jumping: Einsiedeln (SUI), 6 urine tests
Nordic Combined: Oberwiesenthal (GER), 6 urine tests
Snowboard: Stockholm (SWE), 6 urine tests

3. Update on doping cases
On 22nd August 2011, the FIS Doping Panel issued its decision in the case of Estonian Cross-Country skier Andrus Veerpalu and has found that he committed an anti-doping rule violation contrary to article 2.1 of the FIS Anti-Doping Rules.

The athlete is ineligible to participate in any capacity in an event or activity authorized or organized by FIS or any National Ski Association for a period of three (3) years, until 23rd February 2014.

The FIS Doping Panel decision has subsequently been appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in accordance with the rules.

4. FIS launches Anti-Doping awareness campaign  “Clean As Snow – Say NO! To Doping”
Say NO! To Doping is an awareness campaign created by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for organizations to unite behind in support of doping-free sport. FIS is fully committed to the fight against doping and is proud to have WADA‘s endorsement for its own Clean as Snow campaign which incorporates the WADA guidelines. The FIS “Clean as Snow” campaign is supported by the FIS Athletes’ Commission to promote and underline fair and clean sport.