MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. A new Code of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which comes into force starting January 1, 2021, bans all athletes from drinking beer and soft-alcoholic beverages before doping tests, a senior Russian anti-doping executive said on Friday.
"The new standard of the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibits consumption of alcohol by athletes at doping-control stations," Margarita Pakhnotskaya, a deputy director general of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), told journalists. "First of all, we are speaking here about beer consumption."
"As of now, each anti-doping agency has the right of imposing their own regulations un regard to this issue, but the new [WADA] Code clearly states the ban," she continued.
"Firstly, this is not good for athletes’ athlete and it is proved by numerous findings of expert commissions," Pakhnotskaya stated. "Secondly, a consumption of alcoholic beverages results in an indecent behavior at doping-control stations, which also included threats of athletes in regard to doping-control inspectors."
"Thirdly, the presence of alcohol in a body obstructs a possible detection of a banned performance enhancing substance," RUSADA’s official added.
Last March, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency prohibited national athletes from drinking beer and other soft-alcoholic beverages to speed up the process of urination during doping test procedures.
Athletes’ bodies are usually dehydrated after crossing the finish line and some of them use beer or other soft-alcoholic drinks as a diuretic agent to accelerate the process of collecting urine doping samples.