Olympic Leaders Ask WADA to Take over Global Drug-Testing

The International Olympic Committee furthered its continuous effort to eliminate doping Saturday by requesting that the World Anti-Doping Agency take responsibility for global drug-testing of Olympic athletes.

According to Steve Wilson of the Associated Press, the change was suggested in an attempt to make drug testing "independent from sports organizations."

IOC president Thomas Bach spearheaded the move and announced it Saturday at a summit in Lausanne, Switzerland, per NBC Olympic Talk (h/t the Associated Press).

There is currently no centralized drug-testing system for Olympic athletes, which means not every athlete plays by the same set of rules.

As evidenced by this August article by Martin Beckford of the Daily Mail, doping has become an epidemic among Olympians, especially in the realm of endurance running as many suspicious blood tests have surfaced.

WADA has yet to accept or reject the IOC's request, but consolidating the drug-testing process could go a long way toward ensuring the Olympic athletes are clean and playing by the rules at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro and beyond. 

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