Costa Rica – Doping Statistics, Sports and Substances

The Anti-Doping Database contains verified anti-doping rule violations registered for Costa Rica. This country profile provides aggregated statistics across sports, substances, testing types and sanction lengths, including trends over time and active sanctions.

In Costa Rica, the sport with the highest number of anti-doping rule violations is Cycling, while the most frequently detected substance is Clenbuterol. The average suspension length for sanctioned athletes is 33 months.

In Costa Rica, 10% of the anti-doping rule violations in the database come from out-of-competition testing, while 90% are from in-competition tests.

The data below is generated dynamically from disciplinary decisions, published testing programs and official anti-doping authority reports. No individual athlete information is displayed on this page; the focus is entirely on high-level patterns and long-term trends.

Number of cases in Costa Rica Last 10 Years

Comisión Nacional Antidopaje de Costa Rica

Homepage: https://conadcr.org/

Contact:
[email protected]


Global Ranking

Costa Rica ranks #50 of 184 countries in the Anti-Doping Database.

1,030
551
···
About This Ranking

The ranking above shows how Costa Rica compares to other countries in the Anti-Doping Database based on registered anti-doping rule violations.

Important: The Anti-Doping Database relies exclusively on open sources. Some countries do not publish the names of sanctioned athletes, and we are therefore unable to register doping cases from these countries as we have no athlete name or other identifying information. This ranking reflects only cases available in public records.
Top Five sports with the most doping cases for Costa Rica
Substance use in Costa Rica
Most Detected Substance
Costa Rica
Clenbuterol
Cases: 13
% of total: 21%
Category: Anabolic Agents
Purpose: Promotes muscle growth and increases strength.

The popularity of this drug among some athletes is due to the anabolic effect together with the fat reducing effect of this drug, even though there is, to my knowledge, no clinical evidence that can support such effects. The likely explanation is that the fat is re-distributed into the muscle. In many countries clenbuterol is only prescribed to animals and is used e.g. for respiratory disease in horses and in cattle to relax the uterus at the time of parturition. It is also used illegally in pigs to obtain leaner meats. There have been several reported occasions where people have been poisoned by eating pork contaminated by clenbuterol. Written by International Doping Tests & Management (www.idtm.se) for The Anti-Doping Database Sources: www.wikipedia.org www.dopingjouren.se This substance was first listed in the IOC doping list on 17 March 1993 as an anabolic agent (beta-2 agonist).

In-competition vs Out-of-competition cases (last five years)
Key Insight

The balance between In-Competition and Out-of-Competition testing reveals the maturity of a country's anti-doping program.

A higher proportion of OOC tests typically indicates a more proactive approach to deterring doping during training periods.

Recent anti-doping activity in Costa Rica

This profile shows aggregated anti-doping rule violation data for Costa Rica, including trends over time, most affected sports, substance patterns and active sanctions. Detailed case information is available to registered users inside the Anti-Doping Database.

Number of Active Sanctions Ending Year for Costa Rica
Gender Distribution
Male 86.7%
52 cases
Female 13.3%
8 cases
Analysis: Costa Rica has a notably higher proportion of male cases (86.7%) compared to the global average (80.2%), a difference of 6.5 percentage points. Global average: 80.2% male, 19.8% female

The intelligence tool for anti-doping professionals

Used by journalists, sport lawyers, NADOs and researchers worldwide for proactive strategy — not just post-case research.

 

As a subscriber you get instant access to verified, structured anti-doping case data — from hours of research to seconds:

  • Complete athlete and sanction details
    • Identity, ban periods, substances used, test type, violation information and more.
  • Verified documents and case materials
    • Access sanction decisions, PDFs and official sources when available.
  • Advanced insights and historical trends
    • Statistics across sports, countries, substances and year-by-year comparisons — for proactive planning, not just post-case analysis.

The Anti-Doping Database currently contains 14,914 verified anti-doping rule violations across all sports and all countries, and is updated regularly.