Trans-o-flex has been selected to transport samples from athletes taking part in the forthcomingworld championships to laboratories for doping tests as part of the event’s largest-ever
anti-doping operation.Some 2,100 athletes from 202 countries will be participating in the 12th IAAF WorldChampionships in Athletics in Berlin from August 15-23.
The IAAF announced yesterday that the event will be subject to the most comprehensiveanti-doping programme it has ever conducted. More than 1000 samples will be collected, both beforeand during the competition in Germany. Approximately 600 blood samples will be taken in Berlinprior to the championships and another 400 blood and urine samples taken during the competitionitself.
IAAF president Lamine Diack stressed: “For those athletes who still consider that they needto cheat to succeed both blood and urine samples collected from this event will be analysed andeven stored by the IAAF for future analysis should new prohibited substances or methods becomedetectable…If they think they can turn up to our championships with an undetectable drug and getaway with it, then they may be in for a shock, and our recent prosecutions prove this.”
Trans-o-flex announced that it will provide the temperature-controlled transportation of thesamples from Berlin to the anti-doping labs in Cologne and Kreischa (near Dresden), which have beenaccredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Its subsidiary trans-o-flex ThermoMed will usespecial vehicles whose cargo compartments are maintained at the required constant temperature ofbetween 2°C and 8°C for the transportation. Its drivers will collect the samples stored inpolystyrene containers in Berlin and deliver them, together with the corresponding documentation,directly to the labs.
“In comparison with passive cooling systems using freeze boards, this method offers twoimportant benefits,” explained Dr Anne Jakob, Head of the Anti-Doping Co-ordination Team of the DLV(German Athletic Association). “Firstly, we don’t need to provide countless freeze boards forcooling the samples during transportation. Secondly, active temperature control makes it possibleto stay within the ideal temperature range between 2°C and 8°C more reliably.”
If the freeze board cooling the doping sample during the transport is too big, thetemperature will quickly fall below 0°C and the sample will freeze. If, however, the freeze boardsare too small, the cooling effect will not be sufficient. “Active temperature control makes itpossible to constantly ensure the right temperature and, thus, a perfect quality of the dopingsamples”, she concluded.
