In the battle against drug use at the Paris Olympics, the International Testing Agency plans to deploy a more streamlined, high-tech approach to identify and target potential cheats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Benjamin Cohen, director general of the ITA, said potential tools at its disposal included biological and performance passports as well as a mountain of other data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upgraded software, possibly using artificial intelligence, could also help; an investigative unit aided by whistleblowers was making inroads; and increased cooperation with sports bodies and police was bearing fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ITA, which was founded in 2018, runs the anti-doping program for the Olympics, the Tour de France and \u201cmore than 65 international organizations,\u201d said Cohen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The challenge was to refine the \u201crisk analysis\u201d and identify athletes to monitor using as little time and resources as possible, said Cohen, a Swiss lawyer who has headed the agency since its creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem is accentuated in the run-up to the Paris Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe still have 30,000 potentially qualifying athletes and we cannot wait to have the final list to focus on the 11,000 participants,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCertain doping practices enable athletes to achieve results very quickly,\u201d he said. \u201cTraditionally the pre-Olympic period is high-risk time … the last moment to make a difference. Athletes know that they will be very closely monitored at the Olympics, so I would hope that very few, if any, will be tempted to take drugs in the Olympic Village in Paris.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Games, only medalists are automatically tested, but the ITA wants to find ways to target potential dopers before the finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cohen said the ITA tries to identify patterns. It looks at the demands of each discipline and the substances it might tempt athletes to use. Then the ITA looks at delegations and \u201cthe history of doping in that country.\u201d Finally, it scrutinizes each individual athlete and \u201cthe development of his or her performances, any suspicious biological passport profiles, suspicious anti-doping tests and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s hundreds of thousands of pieces of data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRisk analysis\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToday we have our own software, and the next stage\u201d will involve \u201cprogramming computers to extract this data, because we still do a lot of this work manually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After that, the ITA hopes to \u201cseize all the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence,\u201d provided \u201cwe use these new tools ethically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf it\u2019s done properly,\u201d he said, \u201cAI will enable us to go much further in risk analysis and prediction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ITA is developing a \u201cperformance passport\u201d as a counterpart to the long-established biological passport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The objective is to \u201cpredict results on the basis of what an athlete has done over the last four years,\u201d said Cohen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cArtificial intelligence will enable us to say: \u2018This is really an unusual result, which could suggest doping,\u2019\u201c he said. \u201cIt could help us flag them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The performance passport project was initially tested in swimming and weightlifting, two indoor sports in which athletes compete in identical environments each time. In 2021, the ITA carried out \u201ca major investigation into weightlifting,\u201d and that enabled them to set up a specialized unit in cooperation with the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Focus on cycling<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It now has more than 10 such units. \u201cCycling is a particular focus,\u201d but \u201cother sports are beginning to understand the benefits of gathering intelligence, having anonymous sources and promoting whistleblowers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a new method that complements traditional testing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cohen said the ITA has been working to build links with law enforcement and exploit \u201csynergies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey are bearing fruit,\u201d he said, referring to the case of 23-year-old Italian cyclist Andrea Piccolo, arrested on June 21 by the Italian Carabinieri who caught him returning to the country with growth hormones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cITA asked the Italian authorities to open his luggage, which would not have been possible six years ago,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe carry out the controls, we monitor the performances of these athletes, we know the networks, the doctors involved and the drugs they are taking. And they can seize and open suitcases and enter hotel rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source: VOA News <\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the battle against drug use at the Paris Olympics, the International Testing Agency plans to deploy a more streamlined, high-tech approach to identify and target potential cheats. In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Benjamin Cohen, director general of the ITA, said potential tools at its disposal included biological and performance passports as well as…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[569,550,73,134],"class_list":["post-6295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-anti-doping-agency","tag-paris-olympics","tag-slsports","tag-sports-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
Weightlifting also is one of the sports that have returned a vast number of positive tests at Summer Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n