Whereabouts are information provided by a limited number of top elite athletes about their location to the International Sport Federation (IF) or National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO) that included them in their respective registered testing pool (RTP) as part of these top elite athletes’ anti-doping responsibilities.
Because out-of-competition doping controls can be conducted without notice to athletes, they are one of the most powerful means of deterrence and detection of doping and are an important step in strengthening athlete and public confidence in doping-free sport.
Those gymnasts nominated by the FIG through the FIG RTP List (or their NF through the National RTP List) will be asked to provide up-to-date whereabouts information to ensure they can be tested at anytime and anywhere at no notice. The importance of filing whereabouts is a key element for the gymnasts to fulfill their obligations of the WADA Code and the FIG Anti-Doping Rules.
Since 1 January 2009, the FIG made the use of ADAMS mandatory for all whereabouts submissions and TUEs applications. For more information about ADAMS, consult the ADAMS menu on FIG website.
Gymnasts must ensure that they keep their athlete whereabouts information up to date at all times. They can have their agent or another representative submit their whereabouts information if they wish to.
However, athletes are ultimately responsible for their whereabouts. As a result, they cannot avoid responsibility by blaming their representative for filing inaccurate information about their whereabouts or for not updating their whereabouts if they were not at the location specified by them during the 60-minute time-slot.
In order to delegate the task, gymnasts have to request an Athlete Agent account to FIG (contact Loic Vidmer at lvidmer@fig-gymnastics.org).
Whereabouts rules are part of the International Standard for Testing (IST). The IST is mandatory for Anti-Doping Organisations (ADOs, including IFs, NADOs, major Games organisers, etc.) that have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code (the document harmonising anti-doping rules in all sports).
Filing Failures (FFs) can be gained from Missed Tests and Whereabouts Failures (failure to provide sufficient information or not provide information on time) – three FFs over a 12-month period constitute a possible anti-doping rule violation. Such a violation brings with it a sanction of between one and two years ineligibility depending on the gymnast’s degree of fault.
Testing can be conducted at anytime, in or outside the one-hour slot. However, ‘missed tests’ will not be applicable for unsuccessful attempts outside the one-hour slot. Gymnasts may submit last minutes modifications by SMS.
For more information on whereabouts, please consult the WADA Questions and Answers on Whereabouts.