The American Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) believes that the World Anti-Doping Agency has failed in the doping clearance of 23 Chinese swimmers ahead of the Olympics in Tokyo.
Tuesday 23 April at 18:46
On Monday, Wada president Witold Banka had to answer for himself for several hours at a press conference about the case that broke at the weekend.
– If we had to do it all over again now, we would do exactly the same thing, was Banka’s message. He added that no evidence came forward that would change the case.
On Saturday, the news came that Chinese swimmers had traces of the heart medicine trimetazidine in samples submitted a few months before the summer games in 2021. 13 of them took part in the Olympics.
Contamination
According to several media, China’s anti-doping authorities initially concluded that the doping tests contained deviant analytical findings, but later acquitted the swimmers of punishment after investigations showed that the tests were exposed to so-called contamination.
They must have ingested the substance in food during a convention.
Later, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) supported that explanation. This has caused, among others, USADA to react strongly. The American anti-doping chief, Travis Tygart, came out harshly against Wada on Monday and believed that they were covering up for the Chinese.
Asking for a new investigation
USADA believes the Wada president’s response is not satisfactory and requests a new investigation into the samples.
“As a result of the glaring failure of the global anti-doping system, we urge governments and sports leaders to step up and take action to ensure that anti-doping can be trusted,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The first step is to repair the damage by finding an independent source who can look at the matter again”, they write further.
Tags: AntiDoping Agency Wada smooth sailing Chinese doping case calls investigation
