Montreal (AFP)
The Director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Olivier Niggli acknowledged Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic risked creating "holes" in the anti-doping test programs of athletes in certain countries before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus, while saying he was "reasonably optimistic".
"We are monitoring the situation, we have to look at the list of athletes who can go to the Games in the coming months and make sure that there are no places in the world where because of the Covid, there was a big hole and no tests for a while ", he explained during a press briefing in Montreal.
"We are worried to see the resurgence of Covid cases, especially in Europe, but we are still quite far from the deadline" of the Olympics and the situation may develop favorably, in particular with the prospect of a vaccine in early 2021, a- he added.
He said he was "reasonably optimistic" on the ability of national anti-doping agencies, in coordination with the Independent Control Authority (ACI-ITA), to ensure that the athletes selected in the months leading up to the Olympics are tested "if possible twice ".
Mr Niggli was speaking after meetings of WADA's two governing bodies, its executive committee on Wednesday and its foundation board on Thursday.
These meetings made it possible to take note of new reforms in the governance of the global anti-doping policeman, criticized by several groups of athletes and by national anti-doping organizations who accuse him of lacking transparency and independence.
Among other things, WADA decided to appoint two independent members to its executive committee, whose twelve members are made up equally of representatives of the Olympic movement and of governments.
It has also set up a working group responsible for proposing new reforms and evaluating those already implemented.
For WADA President Witold Banka, these are "significant improvements towards greater independence and better representation of athletes and national anti-doping organizations".
"These reforms are just the start," he added.
© 2020 AFP