Adrian College professor one of nine to represent U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in Paris Olympics

ADRIAN — The 2024 Paris Olympic Games were played this summer from July 26 through Aug. 11. The Paralympic Games , also played in Paris, just concluded on Sunday, Sept. 8, after beginning Aug. 28.

When the Olympic Games were played from July and into August, one of Adrian College ’s own was in the presence of Olympic greatness while performing her duties.

Tina Claiborne, Adrian College professor and director of graduate athletic training, not only represented Adrian College at the Olympic Games but she also represented the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) as a doping control officer. In this role, Claiborne had to account for the drug testing of many athletes and competitors including medal-winning swimmers, golfers, track cyclists and weightlifters.

Because of protocol, she is unable to say exactly who she tested.

“Just imagine the most famous athletes in the world,” Claiborne said in a news release from Adrian College.

A few of the highlights from venues Claiborne was assigned to included Katie Ledecky winning her ninth career Olympic gold medal to become the most decorated female Olympian ever from the United States, while Jennifer Valente, the first American woman to have won gold in an Olympic track cycling event, picked up two more in Paris. Olivia Reeves won the first U.S. weightlifting Olympic gold medal in the past 24 years.

Claiborne said there were athletes who tested positive before the games started and were subsequently banned from competing, the first being in Judo.

“The goal was to test every competitor. At events, every medalist got tested, plus a couple more in line who didn’t make the podium,” she said.

It was the first time Claiborne worked at the Olympics.

“It was the most unique experience, I think, that I’ll ever have,” she said.

Claiborne got her start in drug testing while in graduate school at the University of Toledo , Adrian College said. Her boss was a doping control officer and employed her as a witnessing chaperone for USADA.

Although she has worked for USADA for more than 20 years, this was the first time she applied for Summer Olympic duties. There were 600 international doping control officer nominees worldwide, and she was one of nine selected from the United States. Claiborne said she believed the final Paris 2024 anti-doping team consisted of more than 250 doping control officers.

Traveling to Paris for the Olympic games on someone else’s dime would be a wonderful vacation for the average tourist, but for Claiborne it was mainly work, Adrian College said. There wasn’t a lot of spectating for the doping control officers.

“Probably the most special moments I saw were not necessarily when U.S. athletes won. It was when French athletes would win because the stadiums, the crowds would just erupt,” Claiborne said. “The patriotism that every spectator and athlete felt for their country was really moving in a lot of ways. I was out there when the most famous French swimmer, Leon Marchand, won his first gold and you could just feel the energy, it was like nothing else.”

Claiborne said she had plenty of time to check out the scenery on her commute to the various venues as it took at least one hour each way on public transportation.

“It was not a vacation, I promise. It was hard work, but it was one of the most rewarding experiences in my professional life,” she said. “I would apply to go again. The winter Olympics are in Italy, so that would be really neat, and, of course, the summer Olympics are going to be in L.A., so the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is probably going to have a big role in organizing that.”

She said the best part of the trip to Paris was meeting and working with people from all over the world. There were doping control officers from at least 45 other countries.

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While at the Olympics, she ran into a couple of old friends/co-workers including Keenan Robinson, a 2002 Adrian College graduate, who is the director of sports medicine and science for U.S.A. Swimming. She also ran into Ben Towne, a former Adrian College athletic trainer who was Robinson’s clinical instructor, and who is working full-time as an athletic trainer for the U.S.A. Bobsled Team.

Claiborne said she was able to get out a couple of days to explore Paris and check out the main tourist locations, usually with an Adrian College Bulldog flag in hand.

“I’m obviously very proud of Adrian College,” she said. “I’m proud of our athletic training program and the institution overall. It was really fun to catch up with people who had an Adrian College connection, and show that we are, in fact, on the world stage.”

— To learn more about Adrian College, visit adrian.edu .

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian College professor one of nine to represent U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in Paris Olympics