Cece Dupre was not thrilled about the timing of her drug test at the Olympics. The 23-year-old Swiss rower was thrust from her slumber in the wee hours of the morning prior to her first race of the Games.
It was not ideal, but the rules are the rules and she had to oblige to the request!
Dupre, whose legal name is Celia, hails from Geneva. However, she began her rowing career in the United States in 2012 and burst onto the scene as a First Team All-American and national champion as a freshman at Stanford in 2022/23 as the seven seat on the Cardinal’s varsity eight boat.
In lieu of a sophomore season, Cece Dupre spent 2023/24 training with Switzerland for the Olympics in Paris as a member of the Quad scull team. Well, technically, the rowing competition is being held in Vaires-sur-Marne— about an hour or so outside of the city. The Swiss rowing team (and most other participating countries) is not staying in the Olympic Village and opted for a private hotel that is more convenient.
Doping control is not messing around at the Olympics!
Perhaps the distance between Paris and Vaires-sur-Marne played a role in the inconvenient drug testing. Whatever the reason, Dupre was ripped out of bed at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. Her first race was less than 12 hours later.
Doping control takes its job very seriously, which is actually a good thing even if it is annoying. Dupre explained that the athletes are required to submit their schedules to the agency so that it can keep tabs on them at all times. Agents will randomly show up at any moment and any place to request a blood and/or urine sample. If the athlete is unable to urinate in that moment, the agent will closely examine his or her every move until he or she is able to urinate.
Dupre made it abundantly clear. Even though she was not thrilled about waking up at 4:00 a.m. on the morning of her first race, she was/is happy to do it to ensure that the Olympics are clean.
What Dupre did not explain is the 4:00 a.m. wakeup call. Could doping control not wait until, like… 7?