The fundamental principle of the Athlete Biological Passport is based on the monitoring of selected biological variables which indirectly reveal the effects of doping, as opposed to the traditional direct detection of doping. Biological monitoring throughout an athlete’s sporting career should make any prohibited preparation far harder to implement.

The Athlete Biological Passport will be used to meet the two-fold objective of pursuing possible anti-doping rule violations under Article 2.2 of the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) – Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method – and supporting more intelligent targeting of athletes for conventional doping control.

The concept of an Athlete Passport has been discussed by WADA since 2002. It gained further momentum as a result of questions raised by WADA during the 2006 Olympic Winter Games surrounding “no start” suspensions of athletes by their federations following health checks that reported high haemoglobin levels. Some concerns were expressed at the time regarding the results and their potential relation to doping.

Cognizant of the varying approaches to monitoring blood profiles among different sports, WADA convened a meeting to foster exchange of information and to develop a consensus on the topic. The participants (representatives of International Sports Federations including FIS, IBU, ISU, UCI, and IAAF) agreed that the analysis of blood variables should be considered as part of the anti-doping process itself as it can help to identify abnormal profiles, and that WADA should take the lead in convening further meetings of relevant experts in the field of haematology.

The group, through a series of meetings, came to the consensus that the longitudinal analysis of athlete blood variables should be registered in a database, and should be used in target testing and sanctioning when abnormal values are observed.

WADA’s Executive Committee approved WADA’s Athlete Biological Passport Operating Guidelines on December 1, 2009. These guidelines took effect immediately, and any anti-doping organization (ADO) can now adopt WADA’s model to implement a biological monitoring program.

Although the concept is simple, in that different models have already been validated for widespread use in other scientific fields, such as epidemiology, legal medicine or even veterinary monitoring, several key considerations had to be taken prior to its widespread use in the field of anti-doping.

In order to respond to the complexity of this situation, WADA developed a multi-level strategy that included the examination of legal issues and the nature of possible disciplinary decisions, as well as a feasibility study and implementation of strategies that took into account the features and specificities of different sports.

As the international independent organization responsible for coordinating and monitoring the global fight against doping in sport, WADA’s role and mandate are not to intervene on the operational level in specific sports, but to provide harmonized protocols.

Following extensive expert and stakeholder consultation, WADA drafted and fine-tuned operating guidelines, as well as harmonized protocols for collection, transportation and analysis of blood samples, and results management.

The resulting document – WADA’s Athlete Biological Passport Operating Guidelines – was approved by WADA’s Executive Committee on December 1, 2009, and took effect immediately. This document provides an overview of the scientific principles behind the blood module of the Athlete Biological Passport and provides practical advice on the implementation of such a program. In addition, it includes mandatory requirements for collection, transportation, analysis of blood samples, and results management, that ADOs wishing to adopt WADA’s model will have to follow in order to ensure consistency of application and to comply with the World Anti-Doping Code and the related International Standards.

The Athlete Biological Passport Operating Guidelines have been established to harmonize the results of monitored variables within the Athlete Biological Passport to ensure both legal and scientific fortitude. However WADA’s Athlete Biological Passport concept does not undermine the validity or efficacy of any existing longitudinal profiling program that an ADO may currently operate. Rather, WADA’s Athlete Passport model is intended to equip ADOs with a robust and harmonized framework in which to pursue anti-doping rule violations in accordance with Article 2.2. of the World Anti-Doping Code (Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method) and support intelligent, targeted testing.

In addition, WADA continues to further develop the Passport by working on an endocrine module that includes steroid profiling.

If the urine and blood tests, which are essentially toxicology tests, are to be maintained and improved through increasingly sophisticated analytical methods, these will inevitably have to be rapidly combined with effective tools such as biological monitoring. In view of the challenges posed by current and future biotechnological methods, an increasingly global and biological approach, similar to that used in forensic science, is necessary in order to respond with the expected efficiency.

The fight against doping relies on several strategies, including the direct testing of athletes as well as evidence gathered in the context of non-analytical doping violations. By combining these strategies, and seeking new ones to address emerging threats, the global fight against doping is more effective.