Brazil's National Anti-Doping Organisation investigated ahead of Rio Olympics
By Orla Chennaoui, Sky Sports News HQ
Last Updated: 11/02/16 1:53pm
The laboratory used by Brazil's National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO) is at risk of losing its accreditation for a second time, ahead of the Rio Olympics.
The World Anti-Doping Agency is due to rule on the compliance of the NADO on March 18, after it was placed on a watch-list last November.
The NADO has just over one month to prove it has implemented the new WADA code, which was introduced in January last year.
Sky Sports News HQ has learned that WADA met with the Brazilian authorities recently to discuss the NADO's implementation of the new code into the Brazilian legal system.
Ben Nichols, WADA spokesperson, said: "If the current issues are not addressed by March 18, then the NADO will automatically be declared non-compliant."
Should this be the case, the country's only WADA-accredited laboratory would also be automatically deemed non-compliant, meaning thousands of athlete samples gathered at the Olympic and Paralympic Games would have to be transported elsewhere for testing.
SSN HQ understands WADA are not actively considering alternative labs, but Salt Lake City and Montreal are thought to be the most attractive options, given their distance from the Games and the volume of samples they can process.
When Brazil's doping lab was previously stripped of its accreditation ahead of the 2014 World Cup, samples were flown to Lausanne in Switzerland for testing.
Since then, Brazilian authorities have spent £23m and undergone nine months of testing to ensure the facility's accreditation was reinstated last May.
If Brazil loses its doping lab, it would be a big blow to the organisers of Rio 2016, who must be seen to be strict on the matter in the wake of recent doping allegations from Russia.
