The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Wednesday slammed as “cynical and hypocritical” the U.S.’s top sports drug testing agency for calling for more testing after Chinese athletes were found to have taken banned substances ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
WADA: Reuters This week it was revealed that the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), WADA’s equivalent, used athletes who tested positive for banned substances as informants, allowing them to continue competing as long as they went “undercover” to help USADA identify other athletes violating doping rules. The report only mentioned the use of athletes as informants briefly, and explicitly protested that USADA “allowed these athletes to compete for years and, in at least one case, failed to publicize or punish their anti-doping rule violations.”
The tone of WADA’s condemnation contrasts sharply with the deference it has shown to the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA), which has allowed athletes who have tested positive for banned substances to compete at the highest levels of sport, including the ongoing Paris Olympics. WADA accepts CHINADA’s explanation and resents growing pressure from the sports world, led by legends such as US swimmer Michael Phelps, for universal testing and regulations to prevent athletes who fail drug tests from competing.
According to Reuters, Citation USADA has allowed three athletes who failed drug tests — two “low-ranked” and one “high-ranked” — to continue competing if they agree to help gather information about other athletes who similarly flout anti-doping rules, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). USADA confirmed the reports. USADA leader and CEO Travis Tygart told Reuters the move is “an effective way to address these larger, systemic issues.”
“Under the World Anti-Doping Code, to which USADA is a signatory, athletes who ‘substantially’ cooperate with a doping investigation can apply for a partial suspension after being charged,” Reuters noted.
The players in question are not being named due to “safety” concerns.
In a statement responding to the report, WADA accused USADA of compromising “the integrity of sporting competition” by trying to find as many athletes as possible who are using banned substances.
“USADA’s plan undermined the sporting integrity that these regulations are intended to protect, and by implementing it, USADA clearly violated our rules,” WADA said in a statement. read“Contrary to USADA’s assertions, WADA did not approve of the practice of allowing drug offenders to compete for years under the promise that they would seek to obtain evidence of the guilt of others.”
WADA acknowledged that the World Anti-Doping Code allows exemptions for athletes who provide “substantial cooperation” in an investigation, but insisted that “there is a clear process for this and that athletes who have cheated will not be allowed to continue competing while it is unclear whether incriminating evidence can be gathered against others and while the performance-enhancing effects of the substances they have taken may persist.”
“It is ironic and hypocritical that while other anti-doping organizations suspect that the rules are not being strictly followed, USADA has allowed cheaters to continue competing for years without publicly disclosing doping cases in the hope that it might help catch other violators,” the WADA statement continued.
The “other anti-doping agencies” comment is likely a reference to the ongoing scandal surrounding CHINADA’s removal of athletes who tested positive for banned substances. The New York Times Left-leaning newspaper in April Revealed At least 23 members of China’s national swimming team have tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), a drug used overseas to treat heart disease but not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ahead of the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics, many of whom competed while in competition and some while in Paris.
Chinada argued the athletes should not be punished because they took the banned substances through contaminated food – a conclusion WADA did not question.
In a June 30 statement, WADA defended CHINADA in a much more conciliatory tone than it had taken against USADA.
“WADA thoroughly reviewed these cases in early 2024 with every ounce of skepticism, concluded that there was no evidence to suspect that the cause of the positive tests was contaminated meat and decided not to appeal to CAS,” the agency said. Claimed.
“WADA is generally concerned by the number of cases where contamination claims have been unsuccessfully challenged at CAS and terminated without sanction,” the statement concluded, before suddenly shifting focus to the U.S. “Apart from China in particular, there have been several such cases in the United States just in the past few months where highly complex contamination scenarios have been accepted.”
“The politicisation of anti-doping continues with the latest attempts by US media to insinuate wrongdoing by WADA and anti-doping organisations,” the commission concluded in a statement about Chinese athletes failing drug tests.
WADA’s hostility towards US sports officials has the backing of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has in the past defended the Chinese government against criticism over hosting the Olympics while committing genocide and the disappearance of an athlete who accused Olympic officials of rape. The IOC awarded Salt Lake City, Utah, the site of the 2034 Winter Olympics in July, but reportedly only on the condition that US officials stop questioning WADA.
“If the United States does not accept and comply with WADA’s mandate, Salt Lake City’s hosting status could be revoked,” public broadcaster NPR reported.
