In a shake-up, Olympic leaders agreed that "testing should be independent of sports organizations and urged the World Anti-Doping Agency to take over the responsibility on a global level," according to the AP. In a separate decision, the IOC said that competitions run by int'l federations or national Olympic bodies "must allow entry to athletes from all member countries and give them equal treatment, or else the event will not be given Olympic qualifying status." The IOC said in a statement that the group "decided to make anti-doping testing independent from sports organizations. The summit requested WADA to study taking responsibility for testing as the global center of competence in anti-doping." The study "will be carried out by a WADA working group that includes Olympic leaders and government representatives." No "time frame was given." The move "is aimed at giving more credibility to drug-testing by taking it out of the hands of sports bodies and event organizers and turning it over to an independent body." Federations "have been viewed as partial in drug-testing and less willing to uncover cheating in their own sport." It was not immediately clear whether the Montreal-based body -- headed by IOC VP Craig Reedie of Britain -- "would be willing to expand its role by taking over independent testing across the board" (AP, 10/17).
