Clean Water – Swiss Olympic swimmers receive biological passport
Since the end of 2009 the Clean Water project has been collecting data on the blood and urine values of nine top Swiss swimmers. These data have been recorded in a biological passport, which each swimmer has now received. None of these passports shows irregularities. Six of the seven Swiss swimmers competing in the Olympic Games in London now have a Clean Water biological passport.
At the end of 2009 the Clean Water project was set up jointly by Swiss Swimming, Antidoping Switzerland, the Laboratoire suisse d’Analyse du Dopage (LAD) and the biotechnology company Amgen with the aim of promoting doping-free swimming with a view to London 2012. Nine top Swiss swimmers signed up for the programme, and three years down the line there are now nine diagnostically conclusive biological passports each containing a haematological and a steroid profile. None of the 137 doping tests carried out (for blood and urine) gave a positive result, moreover, none of the biological passports shows irregularities. Parameters are set, samples handled (incl. transport) and data interpreted in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Athlete Biological Passport Operating Guidelines.
Barbara Moosmann, head of the Swiss Swimming Federation, is delighted that “six Olympic swimmers – Martina van Berkel, Swann Oberson, Danielle Villars, Dominik Meichtry, Alexandre Liess and Yannick Käser – took part in the Clean Water project from the very beginning. They have now received their biological passport data and of course we hope that they will be able to reach their potential in London.”
| Clean Water statistics | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| Number of tests in biological passport (urine and blood) |
11 | 36 | 57 | 33 |
| Number of athletes | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 |
Successful project
In Switzerland, Amgen has been working since 2009 with the Antidoping Switzerland foundation in terms of the Clean Water project. The biotechnology company Amgen develops and markets innovative therapeutic products that significantly improve the lives of chronically ill patients. The abuse of drugs, for instance in competitive sports, always poses a health risk for the athlete. Amgen is therefore actively engaged in the fight against the abuse of drugs and cooperates to this end with national and international anti-doping organisations throughout the world.
The director of Antidoping Switzerland, Matthias Kamber, is also very pleased with the project: “This exemplary cooperation between national federation, national anti-doping agency, biopharmaceutical industry and laboratory serves as a role model to many other associations of how we can cooperate to make sport clean. For sponsors wanting to give their brands a positive image, ‘clean’ projects are just the right thing.”
