When you are notified for testing, an official will inform you of the following rights and responsibilities:

1. You are responsible for staying within my sight from now until you have provided and sealed your sample.

2. You are entitled to have a representative (or an interpreter) accompany you to the Doping Control Station if you wish.

3. You need to provide some form of photo identification.

4. You need to comply with the sample procedure process. There may be harsh consequences for failing to comply.

5. If you choose to eat or drink, you do so at your own risk. I have some sealed drinks here to help you hydrate. Hydrating excessively may delay the production of a suitable sample, however.

6. We need to collect the first sample passed after notification.

7. You are entitled to ask questions at any time throughout this process. If you wish I can give you a Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui Anti-doping Wallet Guide which details the process you are about to go through.

8. You may ask for a delay in reporting to the DCS for a valid reason, such as a medal ceremony or a cool down.

9. Only for impaired athletes: You may ask for a modification to the process.

Mā tētahi o ngā apihā koe e whakamōhio i ōu haepapa me ōu tikanga:

1. Nōu te haepapa kia kitea koe e au mai ināianei tae noa ki tō whakahoki mai me tō kati i tō whakapūuaua.

2. E whai wāhi ana koe kia noho mai he kaitautoko (kaiwhakamāori rānei) ki tō taha i te Doping Control Station mēnā e hiahia ana.

3. Me hari mai e koe tētahi pikitia tautuhi.

4. Me whai koe i ngā takunga tikanga whakapūuaua. Kei whakawhiua koe ki te kore ēnei e whai.

5. Mehemea ka kai, ka inu rānei koe, māu anō ngā tūraru e mau. Kei ahau ētahi inu kua taupokitia hei whakanā i tō hiawai. Engari, kei whakaroaroa pea tō hanga whakapūuaua tika i te nui o te inu wai.

6. Me kohi e mātou te whakapūuaua tūtahi ka puta i muri i te whakamōhiotanga.

7. Ka āhei koe te patapatai i te roanga ake o tēnei takunga. Ki te hiahia koe, kei ahau tētahi pukapuka pūkoro Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui Anti-doping – kei roto ngā whakamārama mō te takunga e uru nei koe.

8. Ka āhei koe te tono kia whakaroaroangia te rīpoata ki te DCS mēnā he take tika tāu – pēnā i te wā tuku taonga, te whakatā tinana rānei.

9. Mō ngā kaitākaro hauā anake: Ka āhei koe te tono kia rerekē te āhua o te takunga.

Informed

Testing personnel will explicitly inform athletes of their rights and responsibilities, which are consistent with the WADA Athletes Anti-Doping Rights Act.

Accredited

Athletes should take comfort that all doping control officers, blood collection officers and chaperones must carry Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui accreditation. If they are testing on behalf of another international anti-doping organisation, they must have a letter of authority from that organisation.

Private

Athletes have a right to privacy. Photographs, video or sound recordings are all prohibited within our doping control stations, other than for identification purposes and only then with the athlete’s permission. This applies to the Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui team and to the athletes and support personnel.

Knowing what to do when a testing process seems suspicious is tricky, because refusing a test could be treated as a failure to comply. This would put you at risk of anti-doping rule violation proceedings if the anti-doping official thinks that the refusal was not justified.

Our advice to athletes who have concerns about their test is to complete the test, but to make detailed notes if something doesn't feel right. The simplest way of doing this is to write your concerns down on the doping control form – part of the formal sample collection documentation.

However, we hear from athletes that doing this while standing in front of a doping control officer they are about to criticise can be intimidating. We understand that. If you're in this situation, we recommend emailing us and/or the national sports organisation as soon as possible after the test, in NZ or overseas, so that there is a contemporaneous written record of concerns.

Finally, if possible, try to get a support person there as a witness (if one is not present already).

If you are selected for drug-testing while competing overseas, we want to help you to know what to expect and how to recognise a situation that is inconsistent with expectations.

Athletes and support personnel can arm themselves with information through our online or in-person education programmes, or reach out to us on social media.

Find out more about clean sport education.

If a positive test is returned, we treat this as confidential until any and all hearings have completed in relation to that result, other than in response to comments made by the athlete in question, or their representatives.

We have read comments in the media that all provisional suspensions should be made public. However, we know that typically most of our doping violations are inadvertent, and if we are to respect athlete rights first and foremost, those athletes must be given the opportunity to tell their story before their reputations are tarnished. An anti-doping rule violation is not established until the conclusion of a hearing process.

Once the process is completed, the Sports Anti-Doping Rules require us to name athletes who are sanctioned. Naming is part of the sanction - and it protects clean athletes from a cloud of suspicion.

We’re at the end of the phone on 0800 378 437 if you need advice. Ring us, email us, reach our on social media or write us a letter to get in touch.

Find our contact details.