ITA educates young athletes at Lausanne 2020

Next to promoting fairness and equality through a tailored testing programme, the ITA will reach out to a majority of the participating young athletes through an immersive learning experience of the testing process.

Following the successful management of the anti-doping programme at the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games, the ITA will be managing the anti-doping programme for the 3rd Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in close collaboration with the Lausanne 2020 Organizing Committee and Anti-Doping Switzerland in order to promote doping-free competitions. For the first time, the organisation will use a number of paperless solutions at the YOG to facilitate the doping control process and contribute to the sustainability of the event.

The ITA is also piloting a new approach to anti-doping education during the YOG International Federation (IF) Focus Days as part of the IOC’s Athlete Education Programme. The purpose of IF Focus Days is to promote cultural exchange, new knowledge, the development of new abilities and skills for personal and career development, while inspiring young athletes with the Olympic values of excellence, friendship, and respect. The ITA will set up and run the Real Sport Lab – an interactive experience that enables learning through workshop-composed simulations.

The sessions are designed to provide athletes with a first exposure of the testing process that they will inevitably experience either during the YOG or soon within their athletic career. These workshops will complement the actual testing programme in order to ensure that as many athletes as possible are exposed to the process. Around two-thirds of the athletes participating in the YOG are scheduled to take part in the Real Sport Lab during the period of the Games.

The Real Sport Lab experience will also complement the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s outreach activities taking place at the two Olympic Village sites in Lausanne and St-Moritz with the support of ITA personnel.

Finally, on 10 January 2020, the Chair of the Board of ITA and former French Minister for Sport Dr. Valérie Fourneyron has been invited to deliver, together with the new WADA President Minister Witold Bańka, a presentation to the IOC Session on the anti-doping item of the agenda. On this occasion, she will update the IOC on the anti-doping program for the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games as well as on the ITA-led anti-doping program and various Pre-Games activities for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games.