The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) President Luciano Rossi has signed a four-year partnership with the International Testing Agency (ITA) from January 1, 2024.
The new arrangement, as the sport heads towards the Paris 2024 Olympics and the Los Angeles Games four years beyond, will guarantee ISSF athletes a gold-standard anti-doping programme that will be entirely administered by the body that works on behalf of the International Olympic Committee.
Among the functions that the ISSF will be delegating to the ITA will be the organisation and management of in-competition and out-of-competition testing and risk assessment.
The ITA will also supervise the Registered Test Pool (RTP) and manage athletes’ whereabouts submissions, as well as any filing or whereabouts failures, while undertaking World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) compliance monitoring and management.
Additionally, the ITA will manage Athlete Biological Passports (ABPs) and Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs).
And the ITA will strengthen the ISSF’s anti-doping efforts with a long-term sample retention strategy that will allow selected samples to be stored and re-analysed for up to 10 years after the date of collection.
As well as providing independent results management – something it does for more than 80 per cent of Summer Olympic International Federations – the ITA will engage in targeted prevention and educational activities.
ISSF President Luciano Rossi said: “I am very happy to sign this agreement with International Testing Agency as it shows the commitment of shooting sports to the cause of Clean Sport. For the benefit of all athletes and stakeholders, we will work seamlessly with the ITA experts to build a robust and effective system as part of our preparations for the Olympic Games in Paris.”
“My team and I welcome the ISSF as a new ITA partner,” said the ITA director general Benjamin Cohen. “We are pleased to soon start our work to provide shooting athletes with the best clean sport programme possible.
“As the ITA will manage the entire ISSF anti-doping programme in the beginning of 2024, we will be able to accompany its athletes during the important phase leading up to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and ensure that they will compete at a level playing field not only during the Games, but also throughout the years to come.”
According to an ITA release, the doping controls undertaken “will be based on a bespoke risk assessment that considers all relevant factors, including the physiological profile and sporting specificities of the shooting disciplines.
“In order to provide shooting sports athletes with the most comprehensive anti-doping programme possible, the ITA will collect information for the ISSF and respond to all information shared confidentially through the ITA’s secure reporting platform REVEAL.
“All clean sport activities on behalf of the ISSF will be conducted by the ITA in strict compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code and its international standards, with the ITA’s dedicated Regulatory Compliance Unit ensuring full compliance with all mandatory rules.
Fuente: http://www.issf-sports.org
