The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced a pre-Olympic testing program. The governing body indicated that the fight against doping is a priority for the IOC which has established a zero tolerance policy.
The IOC declared that it will not hesitate to punish anyone within its reach responsible for using or providing doping products or methods, including officials, coaches and others members of athletes’ entourage.
The executive board of the IOC stated its support on five specific issues ahead of 2016 Rio Olympic, which are Pre-Olympic Testing program, Re-Testing program, meeting of stakeholders, Extension of the Re-Testing Program and Olympic Summit in October.
Regarding this, the budget for the pre-Olympic testing program has now doubled and the program comes on top of the extensive program already being carried out by international federations and national anti-doping organizations.
Meanwhile, special focus will be on countries where the testing program is non-compliant –Kenya, Russia and Mexico. It will also focus on sports which the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had declared to be the most affected.
A Disciplinary Commission has already been set up and international federations are working for swift decisions, including the suspension of all implicated athletes for the Olympics in Rio.
The re-analysis of the Beijing and London Olympics will be further extended. Together with WADA, the IOC will target medalists from both Olympic Games for possible re-analysis.
An Olympic Summit will evaluate and review the entire doping program and measures being taken for the Olympic Games in Rio. The IOC will continue to push for all testing independent from sports organizations and to harmonise national and international testing under the leadership of a new entity.
Elsewhere, the executive board of the IOC endorsed the proposal to add five new sports to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The five sports — karate, skateboarding, sports climbing, surfing and baseball/softball — offer a key focus on youth, which is at the heart of the Games vision for Tokyo 2020.
