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It's actually not quite that simple. First of all I'm in no way defending the athletes who have missed tests at the Olympics. I am not aware of their exact situations. However, I have been getting drug tested by the IOC, US anti-doping, FINA (world governing body of swimming) and USA-Swimming since I was 14 years old, so I do have a bit of knowledge as to the processes involved.
There are 2 different types of testing situations. You have your basic in-competition test. Let's use the USA Nationals as an example. They will automatically test any swimmer who breaks a record (American, World, US Open, Meet, etc). Then before each finals session they will select a random placing in the top 8. That night they will test every person who finishes in that slot. At Olympic Trials that increases to the top 3 finishers regardless of time, in addition to any other swimmer who makes the team (top 2 in most events, top 6 in the 100 and 200 freestyles). The athletes are completely unaware as to which placing (at a typical national meet) will be tested and are tagged as soon as they get out of the water. They are then given an escort who watches their every move while they are warming down, doing whatever they need to do before reporting for the test. So, in the case of in-competition testing, there is no avoiding it.
The second type of testing is random draw out of competition testing. As soon as an athlete finishes a year ranked in the top 50 in the world in their event they are placed on the US-Anti Doping (or the doping agency of their respective country) random test list. Here in the USA you then begin recieving quarterly paperwork. You must fill out your training/daily schedule for the 3 month period, letting the agency know where you will be at all times of day. Then each quarter your number is put into the pool of athletes and a certain number of names/numbers are drawn. Those people are tested without prior notice at sometime during that quarter. Typically they will show up for the test at practice, but I have also been tested at my home and at school. You are supposed to give the doping agency at least 48 hours notice if there is a change in schedule. However this is not always possible. I have come within a few minutes of missing a test before. I got out of practice early one day and stopped at target on my way home. The battery on my cell phone was dead, so incoming calls were not an option. When I got back to my house my billet father told me that I had to go back to the pool because I needed to be drug tested. I got back on the road and ran into a traffic jam on the Schuylkill (if you live in Philly you know what this means...) 45 minutes later I'm pulling back into the parking lot with 5 minutes to spare before the 2 hour waiting time was up. So, as you can see, missing a test is as easy as a simple early let-out from workout. Now again, I'm not defending those who have already missed tests this Olympics. I am simply trying to shine some light on the process.
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