Biological passport


An athlete biological passport is an individual electronic record for professional athletes, in which profiles of biological markers of doping and results of doping tests are collated over a period of time. Doping violations can be detected by noting variances from an athlete's established levels outside permissible limits, rather than testing for and identifying illegal substances.
Although the terminology athlete passport is recent, the use of biological markers of doping has a long history in anti-doping. Maybe the first marker of doping that tries to detect a prohibited substance not based on its presence in urine or blood but instead the induced deviations in biological parameters is the testosterone over epitestosterone ratio. The T/E has been used by sports authorities since the beginning of the 1980s to detect anabolic steroids in urine samples. A decade later, in 1997, markers of blood doping were introduced by some international federations, such as the Union Cycliste Internationale and the Federation Internationale de Ski, to deter the abuse of recombinant erythropoietin that was undetectable by direct means at that time.
In 2002 the concept of using biological markers to detect doping became known by the term "athlete passport". The advantages were lisred in a science journal paper. and the terminology adopted by the World Anti-Doping agency.
While a new drug test must be developed and validated for each new drug, the advantage of the athlete passport is that it is based on the natural stability of the physiology of the human being. There can be a lag of between the availability of a new drug and the development of an effective test. In contrast, the physiology of the human being remains the same through several generations and all biomarkers developed today in the athlete passport will remain valid for at least several decades. For example, the blood module of the passport is already sensitive today to any new future form of recombinant erythropoietin, as well as to any form of gene doping that will enhance oxygen transfer to the muscles. Also, while a negative drug test does not necessarily mean that the athlete did not dope, the athlete can present his/her passport at the beginning of a competition to attest that he/she will compete in his/her natural, unaltered condition.
The athlete passport was widely covered in the media when the blood module was established at the beginning of the 2008 racing season by the world cycling federation, the UCI. In May 2008 the UCI revealed that 23 riders were under suspicion of doping following the first phase of blood tests conducted under the new biological passport.
The blood module of the athlete passport aims to detect any form of blood doping, the steroid module any form of doping with anabolic steroid and the endocrine module any modification of the growth hormone/IGF-1 axis. Each of these modules are however at different steps of development, validation and application in sports.

Athlete biological passport testing

According to the World Anti-Doping Agency, the athlete biological passport is administered to establish whether an athlete is manipulating his/her physiological variables without detecting a particular substance or method. The biological passport uses the standardized approach of urine sampling to determine steroid abuse. The objective of this testing is to identify athletes in a haematological module and a steroidal module.
The haematological module tests for certain markers in the body that identify the enhancement of oxygen transport. The specific markers the module tests for include haematocrit, haemoglobin, red blood cell count, percentage of reticulocytes, reticulocytes count, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, mean red cell distribution width, and immature reticulocyte fraction.
The steroidal module collects information on markers for steroid doping and aims to identify endogenous anabolic androgenic steroids. The specific markers the module tests for include testosterone, epitestosterone, the testosterone/epitestosterone ratio, androsterone, and etiocholanolone.
The World Anti-Doping Agency recently released the 2014 Prohibited Substances list and it will take effect on 1 January. In the new list, the agency modified the definitions of exogenous and endogenous steroids being tested for in the steroidal module of the biological passport.

Cycling

Whereabouts rules

Under the new rules, registered riders have to give the Union Cycliste Internationale daily information about their location and provide a one-hour window for possible testing. They have to submit a form every quarter year saying where they will be every day of the next quarter and they must notify the UCI if they change their whereabouts on any day. This means the whereabouts information provided in the whereabouts filings is accurate and sufficient in detail to enable any relevant Anti-Doping Organization to locate him for testing on any given day in that period of time. This is the most invasive testing programme in the history of any sport, but the UCI feels this invasion of privacy is justified as previously implemented anti-doping regimes have failed to detect every doping violation.

Cyclists sanctioned on basis of biological passports

The biological passport programme has allowed the UCI to sanction riders for committing an anti-doping rule violation. Riders have also been targeted with further doping controls based on their biological passport.
NameTeamCountryEventStart of disqualificationSanctionSanction
announced		Ineligibility startingIneligibility endingReference
António AmorimRoad racing24 July 20102 years ineligibility10 July 201314 April 2015
Igor AstarloaRoad racing15 Aug. 20092 years ineligibility1 Dec. 201026 Nov. 201025 Nov. 2012
Carlos Barredo, Road racing17 Oct. 2007
–24 Sept. 2011,
only		2 years ineligibilityJuly 201418 Oct 201217 Oct 2014
Leonardo Bertagnolli,, Road racing1 Jan. 2003
–18 May 2011		2 years and 10 months ineligibilityJuly 201424 Nov. 2013
Pietro CaucchioliRoad racing18 June 20092 years ineligibility3 June 201018 June 200917 June 2011
Francesco De Bonis, Road racing18 June 20092 years ineligibilityMay 201018 June 200917 June 2011
Leif HosteRoad racing2 years ineligibility29 Mar. 201329 Dec. 2015
Rubén LobatoSaunier Duval-ScottRoad racing16 July 20102 years ineligibilityJuly 201016 July 201015 July 2012
Denis Menchov, Road racing2009, 2010 & 2012 TdF,
only		2 years ineligibilityJuly 201410 April 20149 April 2015
Franco PellizottiRoad racing7 May 20092 years ineligibilityMarch 20113 May 20102 May 2012
Sérgio RibeiroRoad racing12 years ineligibility 14 July 2025
Ricardo SerranoRoad racing7 May 20092 years ineligibility17 June 20107 May 20096 May 2011
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke/Road racing2012 Tour of Britain & 2012 UCI Worlds,
only		2 years ineligibilityJuly 201431 Dec. 201331 Dec. 2015
Tadej ValjavecRoad racing19 April
–30 Sept. 2009,
only		2 years ineligibilityApril 201120 Jan. 201119 Jan. 2013

During the first three years of UCI's bio passport program 26 riders were found positive for EPO. In 20 out of the 26 cases, it was the abnormal blood profile which raised suspicions leading to a targeted doping test.
The International Association of Athletics Federations introduced their Athletes Biological Passport programme in 2009, and they announced the first sanction under the passport in May 2012. The Portuguese marathon runner Hélder Ornelas became the first track and field athlete to get suspended for doping based on the biological passport. He received a four-year suspension in May 2012.

Track and field athletes sanctioned on basis of biological passports

In March 2014 the Spanish athletics federation cleared Marta Dominguez in a bio passport case. El Pais reported that IAAF were going to take the case to CAS.
In February 2014 IAAF announced they would appeal Aslı Çakır Alptekins ABP related doping case to CAS after the Turkish federation had cleared her. IAAF also suspended her provisionally. An IAAF spokesperson in January 2015 confirmed that Russian race walker Sergey Bakulin was provisionally suspended since December 2012 in an ABP related doping case. IAAF otherwise doesn't publicly announce provisional suspensions. In February 2015 Turkish press reported that Ümmü Kiraz, Bahar Doğan, Semiha Mutlu and Meliz Redif were under investigation in bio passport cases.

Triathlon

In 2012 USADA sanctioned the American triathlete Mark Fretta "after variations in his individual longitudinal blood profile as well as other documentary evidence indicated the use of Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Agents". Fretta received a four-year ban, and his results from 18 August 2010 onwards were annulled.

Football (soccer)

In 2014, the biological passport was introduced in the 2014 FIFA World Cup; blood and urine samples from all players before the competition and from two players per team and per match were analysed by the Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses.