An ITA report was delivered at yesterday's International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session, held virtually due to the ongoing global health crisis. 

In the absence of testing activities during the peak of the pandemic, out-of-competition sample collection dropped by an average of 63.2 per cent and in-competition tests by up to 100 per cent between March and June.

The ITA claimed it maintained all of its other anti-doping activities and services for its partners throughout lockdown.

It has now issued specific guidelines on increased sanitary precautions to protect the health of athletes and the anti-doping workforce, and is preparing to work at over-capacity throughout the summer to carry out planned and rescheduled tests.

As a result of the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to 2021, the ITA has also been adapting its anti-doping programmes for delivery next year. 

Pre-Games testing activities will be updated in order to fit the new timeframe, with the Tokyo 2020 pre-Games expert group set to resume its work at the end of summer. 

ITA director general Benjamin Cohen faced questions from IOC Athletes' Commission vice-chair Danka Barteková and elected member Britta Heidemann about the organisation's activities during the pandemic. 

"COVID-19 has completely reshuffled anti-doping tests," he said.

"Of course, 100 per cent of in competition tests were cancelled, and now we are resuming out of competition tests. 

"There are no international events, so this is still gradually going up, we are now at about 50 to 60 per cent capacity and this will increase over the summer."

Cohen also discussed the resumption of work of the pre-Games expert group. 

"We will be monitoring what tests have been done, to the extent that testing was possible, they will of course take that into consideration," he said.

"They will start issuing recommendations to make sure that in the lead up to the Olympic Games, all Olympians are subject to a proper testing programme.

"So it's going to be a lot of work, we have to start all over again, but you can be rest assured that we will do our best to protect you of course.

"The priority is the health of the athletes and the anti-doping workforce, so we will not force a sample collection if we believe the safety precautions are not guaranteed."

The ITA also shared its final report of its anti-doping programme for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne.

Both in and out-of-competition tests were performed during the Games, with no adverse analytical findings reported. 

New paperless solutions were implemented for the first time, showing potential to be used for Tokyo 2020. 

The ITA claimed an interactive learning workshop on the doping control process proved to be very popular among young athletes.