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Pan Am Games urged by WADA to save drug-test samples; Olympics samples kept for 10 years

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An official walks past targets between rounds, during archery qualifiers at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, Tuesday, July 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

TORONTO – The World Anti-Doping Agency is urging organizers of the Pan Am Games and other large multi-sport events to follow the example of the International Olympic Committee and store samples for possible testing in the future.

Drug-test samples from Olympic Games are stored for up to 10 years, meaning that an athlete who cheated may be caught a decade later by new testing technology.

David Howman, the director general of WADA, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that “we encourage them to do it because it’s important for clean athletes” to be protected.

Howman says storing samples from events like the Pan Am Games would be a further deterrent to cheaters and remind them that they are being targeted.

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