UWW renews clean sport partnership with the ITA

The UWW has partnered with the ITA since January 2019 to offer independent and expert-led clean exercise programs to their athletes. Now, the World Federation of Wrestling has decided to renew that partnership and delegate more aspects of its clean sport program to the independent organization, resulting in an anti-doping program fully administered by the ITA.

Three additional areas of the UWW’s anti-doping program were turned over to the ITA in early February: administration of Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) for wrestlers, long-term sample retention, and education.

Applications for TUEs are processed by ITA’s International Therapeutic Use Exemption Committee (ITUEC), a network of some of the world’s best physicians and pharmacists with expertise in sports medicine that provides confidential and respectful review of athletes’ medical information.

To increase the impact and deterrent factor of the UWW anti-doping program, the ITA also developed a long-term strategy for samples collected from wrestling athletes. The retained samples may be analyzed up to ten years after the date of collection if new findings or findings from investigations provide concrete clues or if improved and further developed laboratory technology enables an extended analysis. UWW samples are stored in ITA’s highly secure and ISO-certified Centralized Long-Term Storage Facility (CLTSF).

The ITA will also raise anti-doping awareness, support the UWW’s clean sport values ​​and contribute to doping prevention among all international amateur wrestling athletes with a dedicated series of webinars and provide ongoing education support to the UWW throughout the year.

“I would like to thank the UWW for their trust and continued commitment to providing their athletes with a high quality, clean athletic program delivered by the ITA,” said ITA Director General Benjamin Cohen.

“The UWW was one of the first adopters of an independently managed anti-doping program and was among the first International Olympic Federations to work with us. I am very pleased to see that our partnership has grown over the past few years and that today the UWW is delegating all their clean sport efforts to the ITA. We are honored by the trust placed in our organization and will continue to do our best to protect their athletes and competitions to support the UWW values ​​of unity, passion and integrity.”

“The ITA’s professional services have met all of our expectations from the start, and that is exactly what our athletes are entitled to ask for,” said UWW President Nenad Lalovic. “That’s why the UWW has not only extended the partnership until the end of 2024, but also delegated the entire program to the ITA. We want our athletes to have confidence that they are competing in a clean environment thanks to a dedicated team of experts.”

All other aspects of the UWW’s anti-doping program will continue to be managed by the ITA with the same commitment to quality and efficiency, following a comprehensive and insightful approach. This includes the entire testing program for UWW, both in- and out-of-competition, risk assessment and test distribution planning, Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) management, conducting Intelligence & Investigations (I&I) activities and the opportunity for UWW Community to share any actual or suspected doping offenses confidentially via the ITA’s REVEAL secure reporting platform. The ITA is also responsible for the administration of whereabouts violations and independent results management for potential anti-doping rule violations related to the UWW’s anti-doping program. All clean sports activities on behalf of the UWW are conducted by the ITA in strict compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code and its international standards, with ITA’s dedicated Regulatory Compliance Unit ensuring full compliance with all mandatory rules.