As the world eagerly awaits the start of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games on Friday, USADA is honored to share our education, testing, and results management programs employed over the last months to help ensure the Olympic Games are fair and that a clean Team USA will represent the United States on the world’s largest athletic stage.
These three areas are vital to sending a clean team to the Games, and USADA was thrilled to work closely and collaboratively with our international partners like the International Testing Agency (ITA) to develop and execute our pre-Games programs.
“The months before an Olympic Games are always an intense time for clean athletes and fair sport, and we are so grateful to all the athletes who have diligently maintained their Whereabouts, been available for testing, and made all the sacrifices required to win clean. We are thrilled that all 232 of Americas’ Olympic athletes have been tested and all results are back clearing them to compete and to represent the United States the right way at the Milano-Cortina Games,” said Travis T. Tygart, USADA CEO.
Testing
Beginning in early 2025, we engaged with America’s National Governing Bodies and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to establish priorities to send clean athletes to the Milano-Cortina Games. Key objectives included testing athletes out-of-competition and at qualifying events, while also coordinating with International Federations (IFs) to maximize testing resources and coverage. For example, we were honored to partner with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to do all the pre-Games testing of NHL players in the U.S., including all foreign players and U.S. athletes.
Recognizing many Olympic team rosters are not finalized until after trials and qualification events that take place immediately before the Games begin, USADA implemented a broad pre-Games testing program, resulting in more than 1,300 samples collected on Olympic hopefuls.
The 2026 U.S. Winter Olympic team includes 232 U.S. athletes, the largest ever, and in coordination with our partners, we collected more than 860 samples on this group, averaging three tests per athlete with a concentration on the high-risk sports. For transparency, USADA publicly posts the testing we do by athlete name, and we continue to advocate for all anti-doping organizations to do the same so that athletes can have confidence they are all being held to the same standards across the world.
The vast majority of this testing was conducted out-of-competition with no advance notice, which provides better detection and deterrence value than event testing. Additionally, USADA has an extensive long-term storage plan for pre-Games samples, and these samples can be re-analyzed at any time over the next 10 years as new detection methods become available.
USADA also worked to meet testing recommendations outlined by the ITA’s Pre-Games Expert Group for Olympic athletes during the pre-Games time frame (August 1, 2025, to January 28, 2026). You can find the ITA’s detailed media release about this here.
Education
Under our pre-Games education program, all USADA pool athletes and credentialed members of Team USA completed clean sport education. As such, more than 3,500 athletes and athlete support persons (ASP) completed USADA’s Clean Sport eLearning courses in 2025. Additionally, more than 290 coaches and ASP completed a course that also included Games-specific content, while more than 160 athletes and staff completed an additional Games-specific course.
One of the most utilized resources for those going to Milano-Cortina was our Games-specific webpage, where stakeholders can easily access important rules, dates, and contact information. To date, more than 400 visits to the page have been recorded.
During 10 different sessions, USADA staff provided live education to more than 215 athletes and ASP seeking to qualify for the Olympic Games, and all athletes received USADA resources and important information specific to the Games. Once athletes arrive in Italy, they will also receive a clean sport kit from USADA filled with resources, including a luggage tag with information that will allow athletes to contact USADA 24/7 during the period of the Games via voice call, SMS, and WhatsApp.
Results Management
In the lead up to the Games, USADA’s goal was to have all sample results processed and cases resolved for Milano-Cortina hopefuls before the Olympic Games. This goal required extensive investment and internal and external collaboration with various stakeholders, especially the WADA-accredited laboratories. For example, USADA worked closely with laboratories, including UCLA and SMRTL in the U.S. and others around the world, to expedite sample analysis, which requires proper allocation of resources and significant due diligence. As a result of this collaborative effort, we have successfully met our goal and all samples are analyzed and reported, and there are no cases pending with any Team USA athlete going into the 2026 Olympic Games.
For more information or media inquiries, email Media@USADA.org.
