Olympics doping agency does best to catch 'cheats'

The ITA, set up in 2018, is in charge of the Games anti-doping program for the first time and started out-of-competition testing when the Olympic village opened on July 13.

Russian athletes are barred from competing at the Tokyo Olympics with their flag and anthem and instead are identified as "ROC" athletes -- which stands for Russian Olympic Committee -- following a series of doping scandals that shook world sport.

"Obviously, I will not hide that Russian athletes come high in the risk assessment based on the previous years and previous issues," ITA Director General Benjamin Cohen told reporters.

Many Russian athletes were sidelined from the past two Olympics, and the country's flag was banned at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games as punishment for state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Russia has acknowledged shortcomings in its implementation of anti-doping policies, but it denies running a state-sponsored doping program.