April 15, 2010 – The annual gathering of International Federations (IFs) and National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) organized by the World Anti-Doping Agency at the University Hospital in Lausanne (SUI) took place on 13th and 14th April. FIS was represented in the gathering of 240 delegates by its Secretary General Sarah Lewis and Anti-Doping Coordinator Sarah Fussek.

A series of high level presentations covered such topics as the opportunities for collaboration between IFs and NADOs, risk assessment for test planning, the athletes biological passport, a status report on the review of the International Standards for Testing and electronic paper-free doping control administration. Workshop sessions enabled different perspectives to be shared and valuable ideas as well as practical solutions to be found to improve different aspects of anti-doping work, including membership of registered testing pools, the collection of whereabouts information, issuing therapeutic use exemptions and sharing of testing plans.

The involvement of many new National Anti-Doping Agencies was a main and highly positive feature of this year’s symposium, mainly thanks to the development work of WADA’s regional organizations. “The opportunity to meet other organizations facing the same challenges, learning of their experiences and seeking common solutions is a valuable tool for improving our anti-doping work at FIS,” commented Sarah Lewis. She added: “The tools at our disposal with the athlete biological passport and new testing methods give an encouraging outlook for our goal of having clean sport”.