An AAF always leads to a provisional suspension. This suspension is communicated to the athlete and the federation. An ADO will never publish a provisional suspension on its own initiative.
No ADO or WADA shall publicly disclose the identity of any Person who is asserted to have committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation until after it has been determined that an Anti-Doping Rule Violation has occurred.
Reasons why a provisional suspension may be published:
The athlete communicates it on their own initiative.
The federation “forces” publication in order to create transparency.
The suspension is leaked, e.g. by the press.
Only in these cases is an official press release issued by the ADO.
Provisional suspensions are usually made public, especially in the case of high-level athletes (because questions are more likely to arise there, including from sponsors, organisers, etc.). But in principle, it is possible not to communicate the provisional suspension and for no one to find out about it. This is especially true in the case of lesser-known athletes.
If the provisional suspension has not been communicated publicly and the athlete is acquitted, the ADO will not communicate this publicly either. It is therefore possible that the public will never find out about it (see also above).
In the event of a conviction, the WADA Code stipulates that the name of the athlete, the sport, the violation and the prohibited substance must be made public.
However, this does not always happen everywhere. In Germany, for example, sanctions are not made public because higher law (data protection law) takes precedence. There are currently around 80 sanctioned athletes in Germany who have not been made public. Only the athlete and the association were informed.
Even in the case of semi-professionals who have a job in addition to their sport, their names are often not disclosed because the damage to their reputation outside of sport would be too great.