Hello, AMA, ITA, AFLD… I admit that I’m a little lost in all these acronyms that are mentioned when we talk about doping and above all I don’t really understand who does what exactly. In particular between the AMA and the ITA: why these two structures in fact?
Rosy
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), created in 1999 after the Festina scandal, is the international regulator: it makes the rules and verifies their application. The rules are the World Anti-Doping Code and international standards. They must be respected by countries and their national organizations such as the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD), athletes, analysis laboratories and international federations.
The International Testing Agency (ITA), created after the Russian Sochi affair, delivers the anti-doping program of international federations and major international events, such as the Olympic Games, in accordance with the world code. In summary, it makes the program independently and with pooled expertise to eliminate any potential conflict of interest between the organizers of the event or its discipline and the anti-doping program of its athletes.
The ITA, for each international federation or event that has delegated its anti-doping program to it, assesses the risk of the discipline for each athlete, for each country, each season, then develops a test plan, the type of tests (urinary, blood, biological passport), monitoring the whereabouts of athletes, carrying out tests, accepting or not prescriptions, managing results, etc.
To deliver this program on the occasion of the Paris Games, the ITA relies on the French Anti-Doping Agency and the laboratory authorized by WADA.