New drug testing agency aims to restore trust in sport

The new International Testing Agency will regain the "trust" of athletes and fans who lost faith in the fairness of sport after a series of doping scandals, the body's director-general told AFP.

The idea to create the ITA was conceived at the height of the Russian doping scandal that saw evidence emerge of egregious cheating orchestrated by Moscow during the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

Under intense pressure, the International Olympic Committee insisted the sporting world needed a fully independent testing agency that could back-stop federations and national anti-doping labs, which had proven vulnerable to manipulation.

The ITA started operating in Lausanne just over a month ago and it is, managing-director Benjamin Cohen said, already providing services to 30 federations and would strive to build its portfolio -- including testing responsibility for the next World Cup, if FIFA agrees.

"We are coming out of a rather complicated period, since the Sochi Olympics," Cohen told AFP at the agency's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The "ITA will be there to regain the trust of the athletes and the fans if they have lost it," he said, adding that the body will work to "earn trust, respect and loyalty of our partners." But the ITA's ability to attract partners was, at the outset, an open question.

- Gaining momentum -
====================
"I'm hoping, that in the short term or mid-term, we'll be able to work for UCI, athletics or FIFA."