Just how rigorous are the testing regimes in athletics when a global map is put together?
Dr. Bill Cuddihy, former member of the Anti-Doping Sub Committee of Irish sports council, and former team doctor to Athletics Ireland has done some research into this area and joined Off The Ball on the line to talk us through his findings.
"Looking at the figures for the last Olympics and comparing the testing rates across the world, it is quite clear that there is no level playing when it comes to the number of tests that are done across the world," said Dr Cuddihy, who explained the rationale behind the findings.
"An Irish athlete would be five times more likely to be tested than a United States athlete on the basis of [the findings]."
Cuddihy added that the proportion of out of competition testing to in competition testing in the USA was in the range of best practice, but that Ireland was even more rigorous under that rubric.
"We don't have the most rigorous [testing regime] in the world. The Portuguese would be ahead of us and a couple of the Scandinavian countries. But we would be up there among the most tested in the world. Whereas, countries that are most successful would appear to have very little or no testing done," said Cuddihy.
Those countries include the current world leader in sprinting, Jamaica, long-distance powers like Ethiopia and Kenya, and Ukraine.
Indeed, Jamaica did no blood or biological passport tests in 2012, and a minimal number of urine tests.
Cuddihy also homed in on the interesting numbers involving Russia.
"There's some messin' going on in Russia. I don't know what it is but the figures don't add up," he said.
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