Athletics: WADA to study independent testing proposal

New Zealander David Howman, left, the director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and Craig Reedie, WADA president, prepare to begin a meeting of WADA at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Leaders from the World Anti-Doping Agency met Wednesday to decide whether to ban Russia’s anti-doping operation in the wake of the report about corruption in the country’s track and anti-doping programs. AP Photo

COLORADO SPRINGS, United States—The World Anti-Doping Agency will study a proposal from the International Olympic Committee that could put the body in charge of all global drug testing, officials said Wednesday.

WADA’s foundation board, meeting in Colorado Springs, said the agency would explore the idea put forward by the IOC at a summit in Lausanne last month.

Under the IOC initiative, individual sports bodies would be removed from involvement in dope-testing. WADA would take over responsibility for an independent program.

WADA officials agreed on Wednesday to form a study group including the IOC and international federations to look at the idea.

The group would report back to WADA at its next foundation board meeting in May 2016.

The IOC welcomed the move in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“We welcome this move by World Anti-Doping Agency which has accepted an initiative of the Olympic Summit in October to set up a working group to make anti-doping testing independent of sports organizations,” IOC President Thomas Bach said.

“We hope that this working group will meet as soon as possible to come up with a solution to make testing independent from sports organizations.”

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