Whereabouts Failures

Providing accurate and up-to-date whereabouts is about protecting your right to clean sport. 

Whereabouts failures are a means to ensure compliance to Anti-Doping Rules.

Please note, that the Athletics Integrity Unit will be taking a more stringent approach to whereabouts requirements in 2021. You must read this information carefully.

A WHEREABOUTS FAILURE WILL BE RECORDED AGAINST AN ATHLETE ON THE WORLD ATHLETICS RTP UNDER THE FOLLOWING CIRCUMSTANCES: 

  1. You have failed to submit your whereabouts by the required deadline (Filing Failure). 
  2. You have failed to update your whereabouts or you have not updated them as soon as possible after a change of circumstances (Filing Failure).  
  3. You have filed your whereabouts on time but they are incomplete or inaccurate or insufficient to enable us to locate you for testing (training address missing, home address too vague, competition schedule missing or incomplete, no address of temporary accommodation during competition…) (Filing Failure). 
  4. The Athletics Integrity Unit finds out that your whereabouts are inaccurate or incomplete following an unsuccessful attempt to test you (e.g. an athlete lives in a gated complex and fails to give instructions to the security gate to let the doping control officer in) (Filing Failure).
  5. You have filed whereabouts information but you are not available for testing at the location corresponding to your 60-minute time slot (Missed Test).

CONSEQUENCES 

Under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, any combination of 3 whereabouts failures (Filing Failure and/or Missed Test) within a period of 12 months constitute an anti-doping rule violation, for which the applicable sanction is 2 years' ineligibility subject to a reduction to a minimum of 1 year depending on your degree of fault. 

Whereabouts failures will be systematically and strictly enforced by the AIU. Athletes’ compliance with the Whereabouts programme is crucial and the AIU expects your full cooperation to avoid Whereabouts Failures.