ITA chair Valérie Fourneyron has confirmed the organisation will support the Minsk 2019 and Lausanne 2020 anti-doping programmes ©GAISF

The International Testing Agency (ITA) will support both the Minsk 2019 European Games and Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, the organisation's chair Valérie Fourneyron has revealed.

Fourneyron stated that the ITA would provide an independent oversight of the anti-doping programme at the second edition of the European Games.

The Games will take place in Belarus' capital city Minsk from June 21 to 30.

The ITA will then prepare the anti-doping programme for the Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne.

The Youth Olympics will be held from January 9 to 22 in the Olympic capital.

It will be the latest major events in which the ITA has been involved, prior to the organisation handling the anti-doping programme at an Olympic Games for the first time in Tokyo next year.

Fourneyron stated that the ITA had collected 700 samples at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

The ITA also coordinated anti-doping at the Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade.

This saw the ITA provide necessary equipment and coordinate sample collection, as well as provide two anti-doping specialists who will supervise all the procedures conducted on the ground.

Furthermore, the ITA will trained the 16 doping control officers in charge of test implementation, as well as sample collection personnel.

Fourneyron, the former French Sports Minister, added the ITA were continuing to reanalyse 2,000 samples from the London 2012 Olympic Games.

ITA chair Valérie Fourneyron hailed the growth of the organisation in the past year ©ITA
ITA chair Valérie Fourneyron hailed the growth of the organisation in the past year ©ITA

It follows the ITA being delegated responsibility for results management last November by the International Olympic Committee.

They will also have responsibility over the selection of samples which will be analysed.

Fourneyron also hailed the development of the ITA, since it became operational last June.

"I am pleased to report that more than 40 International Federations and major event organisers are engaged in a partnership with the ITA," she said.

"Testing numbers have grown from 1,500 last year to more than 10,000 in 2019.

"Our 2019 revenues were initially forecast at CHF900,000 (£680,000/$890,000/€790,000).

"It is currently at around CHF3 million (£2.2 million/$2.9 million/€2.6 million), more than 200 per cent higher."

Fourneyron stressed that the ITA were aiming to assess how the organisation could reduce costs for partners.

She acknowledged that the cost of anti-doping activities currently remained expensive.