The World Anti-Doping Agency said on Tuesday it has issued a three-month partial accreditation suspension to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Olympic Analytical Laboratory for analyzing certain banned substances.
The three-month suspension began last Wednesday and, according to a WADA statement, is a result of "WADA's quality assessment procedures that identified non-conformities with best practice."
Los Angeles is competing against Paris to host the 2024 Olympics and the local bid committee has selected UCLA as the site for the Olympic Village, which would house all competing athletes.
During the suspension, the UCLA laboratory can carry out all its regular anti-doping activities, but it must obtain a second opinion from another WADA-accredited lab prior to reporting any adverse analytical finding for the glucocorticoids "prednisolone" and "prednisone"; and, the anabolic steroids "boldenone" and "boldione".
WADA said suspensions limited to certain substances have been issued in the past and allow for appropriate monitoring of the lab to ensure full implementation of necessary improvements with the objective of a return to full compliance.
An independent WADA Disciplinary Committee advised by WADA's Laboratory Expert Group delivered its recommendation for a limited suspension on June 14.
The UCLA lab was notified of the decision two days later and has 21 days to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
As part of the process, WADA will conduct a site visit within a timeframe that reasonably allows the UCLA Laboratory to finalize implementation of all remedial actions.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) later released a statement on its website which read: "WADA's announcement regarding the UCLA Laboratory doesn't mean that there should be any concern about the reliability of anti-doping processes in the United States.
"The UCLA Lab is still accredited by WADA and will continue to process samples for all prohibited substances and methods, as usual.
"It's important to note that there have never been any false positives, or any suspicion of false positives, at the UCLA Laboratory. Moreover, no athlete has been wrongfully suspended or disciplined.
"Clean athletes can rest assured that their rights and the integrity of the sample analysis process are being upheld at WADA-accredited laboratories in the United States."
