(ATR) The IOC says the International Testing Agency will be fully operational on June 1 and again called for international federations to utilize the service to improve anti-doping controls.
Spokesman Mark Adams told reporters in Lausanne that the ITA was nearly up and running after it played a partial role in the anti-doping procedures at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Staff from the Doping-Free Sports Unit, operated by the General Association of International Sports Federations at Maison du Sport International in Lausanne, have now transitioned to the International Testing Agency.
Organizers of the Jakarta Palembang Asian Games have requested the ITA to be the drug testing agency for the 40-sport event opening this August, Adams said.
Adams said 20 international federations have asked for ITA services: "We are expecting more and encouraging more."
The IOC communications director suggested the ITA was needed more than ever before, citing the doping cover-up allegations that have rocked the International Biathlon Union.
Last month, IBU president Anders Besseberg and secretary general Nicole Resch stepped down amid an investigation by Austrian prosecutors into their alleged involvement in bribery and criminal wrongdoing linked to doping cases involving Russian athletes from 2012 to 2017.
Adams said the IOC executive board discussed the IBU crisis, and the Olympic committee’s chief ethics and compliance officer was "in touch with WADA". A a WADA tip-off led to the Austrian prosecutors raiding the IBU’s headquarters in Salzburg.
"We would renew our call [to federations]," Adams said, urging them to make use of the ITA’s package of anti-doping services.
"There are very good reasons… testing and sanctioning is independent from national authorities and sports organizations," he added.
Benjamin Cohen starts work as the International Testing Agency's new secretary general later this month.
The ITA will be responsible for developing with each respective international federation an international test distribution plan (ITDP) not only by sport but by discipline.
This would contain a minimum number of tests for every athlete wanting to participate in the world championships or the Olympics. This number would be transparent for each athlete in a discipline of a sport.
Under the new ITA system, athletes not having the established minimum testing level would not to be eligible to participate in world championships or the Olympics.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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