'Stab in the back to clean athletes': USADA calls for WADA overhaul, probe into China swim doping

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) called Tuesday for an overhaul of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and an independent investigation into Chinese swimmers testing positive before the Tokyo Olympics. The move came a day after WADA held a news conference to refute accusations from USADA chief Travis Tygart of covering up 23 Chinese swimmers testing positive for prescription heart drug trimetazidine (TMZ), which can enhance performance.

A USADA release on Tuesday declared that none of the questions about WADA or China’s anti-doping agency (CHINADA) were “satisfactorily answered” by WADA on Monday.

“The selective and self-serving application of the rules we heard about yesterday destroys public trust in the authenticity and value of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement,” the USADA release said.

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“Learning that different rules can be applied to different countries sours the commitment of those who are vital to its ongoing viability, including the world’s best athletes, fans, sponsors, and the next generation of athletes.”

The Chinese swimmers were able to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after global governing bodies accepted China’s findings that they had unwittingly ingested the substance from food at a meet.

Several of the swimmers won medals at Tokyo and some are set to compete at this summer’s Paris Olympics.

“At every stage, WADA followed the whole due process and diligently investigated every line of inquiry in this matter,” WADA president Witold Banka said Monday. “If we had to do it over again now, we would do exactly the same thing.”

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Banka said “no credible evidence of wrongdoing was provided by any source who came forward on this file, so the threshold for WADA intelligence and investigations to open an investigation was not met”.

USADA, however, calls WADA’s inaction as a failure of the entire anti-doping system.

“As a result of the global anti-doping system’s obvious failure, we urgently call on governments and sport leaders to step up and immediately undertake action to ensure that real independence, oversight and accountability are created in the global anti-doping system so that the world can have trust and confidence in the system and those who lead it,” USADA said.

“Given we are on the eve of the 2024 Summer Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, athletes and the public desperately need and deserve confidence in the global anti-doping system headed into these Games.

“An immediate first step to repairing the damage of this cover-up is for governments to appoint an Independent Prosecutor to review the entire case file of the 23 positive tests and ensure that justice is delivered.

“The effort to achieve whatever justice possible at this time must happen before the 2024 Paris Games, as it is unfair for all athletes competing in these Games to possibly compete against those who tested positive and whose results were kept secret until now.”

‘Stab in the back’ 

WADA could have taken the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but Banka said there was no credible evidence to dispute the CHINADA theory accepted by World Aquatics.

“If we had taken such an appeal and challenged the contamination explanation, we would certainly have lost,” Banka said.

USADA countered by saying: “WADA’s willingness to blindfold and handcuff itself and to maintain that it would do the same thing all over again is yet another stab in the back to clean athletes.”

Banka said of Tygart’s original criticism that “most of the comments are politically motivated and without any evidence that there was something, on our side, wrong”.

The latest USADA release also asked for WADA Executive and Foundation Board governments to launch a review into the 23 Chinese positive tests and overhaul WADA to ensure no repeat of the situation occurs before the Paris Olympics.

“All athletes, sponsors, and fans of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement deserve a real global guard dog that has the teeth and the determination to apply the rules uniformly and fairly,” USADA said.

“We call on governments and the sport movement to overhaul WADA to ensure a cover-up of positive samples on the eve of the Olympic Games cannot occur ever again, and to once and for all remove the fox from guarding the hen house by making WADA truly independent.”