Misuse of Benzodiazepines in freediving competitions

Code: 242C10ND

There are indications that some freedivers use Benzodizepines to improve sports performance, which is not common in any other sports. The International Federation CMAS (Confederation Mondial des Activities Subaquatiques) has decided to impose sanctions to every freediver who is detected positive for the misuse of benzodiazepines by their Ethical Committee, which is not covered by the World Antidoping Code.

The misuse of Benzodiazepines is potentially against fair play and can be hazardous to the health of freedivers. As the governing body in freediving and thoroughly concerned with fair play in freediving, AIDA (International Association for the Development of Apnea) decided to carry out a project to determine if Benzodiazepines are misused in freediving competitions. In case that benzodiazepines improve freediving performance, these substances should be proposed as doping substances, and they have to be placed into monitoring list and eventually into the prohibited substances list, too.

A preliminary study performed in 2024 with 28 freediving samples from the indoor AIDA Championship revealed that two of these samples contained at least one Benzodiazepine or Benzodiazepine-like substance. The purpose of the hereby proposed project is to investigate whether benzodiazepines are present in the bodies of freedivers during AIDA competitions. Subjects will be elite freedivers at the AIDA World Championships, being selected for doping controls. The analysis will be performed at the Forensic Unit of the Seibersdorf Laboratories (Seibersdorf, Austria).