Details from a Tuesday summit regarding the role of the World Anti-Doping Agency are scarce at best, but IOC President Jacques Rogge told the AP that the issues with drug testing are seen as qualitative rather than quantitative, and that WADA will do more unannounced out-of-competition testing of athletes in the future.
“There should be more targeted testing with athletes that might be considered as being suspicious,” Rogge said Wednesday.
“Top sports should be targeted more than others because of the effect of doping on their performances, and the prevalence of doping. All of that was discussed and definitely will lead to an implementation.”
The meeting, attended by Rogge, four IOC vice presidents, and the heads of many sports federations, was requested after public disputes between WADA and the International Cycling Union over fallout from Lance Armstrong’s admission that he was doping throughout his career.
Additionally, WADA president Dick Pound submitted a report last week stating that a lack of cooperation from sports bodies, national committees and governments, and athletes have led to an ineffective testing system, with less than one percent of the 250,000 annual tests coming up positive for drugs.
But despite WADA being the main topic of discussion, none of their representatives were invited to the informal summit. Instead, it was an opportunity for the governing bodies to air their grievances, which Rogge believes “will lead to very good collaboration with WADA.”
