11 October 2018, Buenos Aires – International Testing Agency (ITA) Chair Dr Valérie Fourneyron delivered a comprehensive update on the ITA’s progress during day one of the 133rd International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Buenos Aires on Monday 8 October.
Dr Fourneyron spoke about the significant development and rapid growth that the ITA has undergone since its official formation earlier this year. In the past few months, the ITA has held regular meetings with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the IOC, International Federations (IFs), Major Event Organisers (MEOs) and National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs). During these meetings, the ITA has provided positive updates on its activities and the services it offers.
The ITA also took part in discussions relating to the ongoing revision of the World Anti-Doping Code, and has commenced work to support WADA with the extraction of samples removed from the Moscow laboratory in December 2014, before its suspension by WADA. The ITA is also supporting the IOC with the reanalysis of samples from the London 2012 Olympic Games.
"The ITA is now very different from what it was back in February, and I am very proud to see that the ITA is overseeing the anti-doping programme for the Youth Olympic Games here in Buenos Aires," Dr Fourneyron said.
Dr Fourneyron also talked about the ITA’s future efforts, which will include more Olympic events.
"Our team has worked hard on preparations for testing management at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games but we are now also looking ahead to the programmes for Lausanne 2020 and Tokyo 2020.
"The ITA wishes to cooperate closely with the Local Organising Committees of these Games to ensure a robust and efficient anti-doping programme is in place, and to allow athletes to feel truly confident that all athletes have been subject to rigorous but fair testing before and during the Games."
Dr Fourneyron also noted that more than 30 international sports organisations have already delegated anti-doping activities to the ITA. With 18 staff members coming from all corners of the world and from various stakeholder groups (WADA, IFs, MEOs, laboratory, NADOs, etc.), the ITA demonstrates that it is building a truly international centre of anti-doping expertise.
Dr Fourneyron expanded on the benefits that a partnership with the ITA brings to stakeholders, and reinforced her belief that the ITA, borne of the sports movement’s call for greater independence and transparency, will help restore confidence for athletes and fans.
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
