IOC president proposes PED testing changes ahead of 2016 Olympics

IOC president Thomas Bach has proposed significant changes to the way the World Anti-Doping Agency regulates PED testing.

IOC president Thomas Bach has proposed changes to the way the World Anti-Doping Agency regulates PED testing in the wake of the doping scandal that resulted in Russia being banned from international competition, the Associated Press reports.

Bach presented WADA with three specific proposals for change on Friday:

First, authorizing the Court of Arbitration for Sport to enforce doping bans and sanctions. Removing this duty from WADA and individual sports bodies is considered the most radical change proposed by Bach.

Second, creating a government-supported PED testing unit that would be independent from WADA’s monitoring role.

Third, establishing an intelligence-gathering unit tasked with enforcing compliance by national anti-doping bodies and drug-testing labs.

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Last month, Olympic leaders recommended that WADA assume responsibility for global PED testing, taking over for individual sports bodies. This week, WADA agreed to study the idea.

“We are convinced that the adoption of these proposals would lead to a more efficient, more transparent, more streamlined, more cost efficient, more harmonized anti-doping system,” Bach said. “It would better protect the clean athletes and enhance the credibility of sports.”

While the proposal is being considered, Bach said the IOC would fund an intelligence-gathering program run by WADA focused on testing Olympic athletes ahead of the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Bach said he hoped the program would make Olympic PED testing more “targeted and effective.”

- Erin Flynn