IAAF commitment to healthy and drug-free athletics

The IAAF is proud of its position at the forefront of the global fight against doping in sport, and is resolutely committed to athletics, and to the preservation of a zero-tolerance policy with respect to doping.

This position dates back to the 1928 Amsterdam Congress, where the very first anti-doping rule was approved. More than 85 years later, doping control is now conducted at all major competitions, with the IAAF working together with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the IOC, national federations and national anti-doping organisations to ensure the implementation of a coordinated, robust anti-doping programme.

In 1989, the IAAF and the other Olympic federations signed a joint declaration against doping, with a random and target testing out-of competition programme being initiated that same year; this has become a regular feature of the IAAF programme, both at national and international level.

Since 1995, the IAAF has been at the forefront of the campaign for global harmonisation of all anti-doping related activities; a project that ultimately, in 2003, resulted in the creation of the World Anti-Doping Code. At its Congress in Paris later the same year, the IAAF accepted the World Anti-Doping Code as a basis for the fight against doping in sport, and the new IAAF anti-doping rules were introduced with effect from 1 March, 2004. Ever since, the IAAF has played an active, visible role in each revision of the Code.

The IAAF also operated a key role in the establishment of a list of accredited laboratories around the world, as well as the development of a list of prohibited substances, during the 1970s. These dual concepts were then further developed by the IOC and both lists are now published annually by WADA.

On an annual basis, the IAAF conducts an extensive anti-doping programme, including approximately 3500 annual in- and out-of-competition tests, scientific research, and informative and educational projects, being determined to remain the leading international federation in this regard.

In recent years, this pledge has been underlined through a rigorous implementation of the Athlete Biological Passport.

Official anti-doping documents