PARIS, July 24, 2024 – The integrity of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has been under intense scrutiny for months now over the doping scandal involving 23 Chinese swimmers, but the criticism reached a crescendo in the La Seine press conference room at the Main Media Centre (MMC) of the Paris 2024 Olympics where a journalist described WADA as a “lapdog for the IOC”.
LACK OF TRUST The lack of trust in the room was palpable as countless journalists demanded accountability for WADA's decision on the case, with Witold Banka, President of the WADA and Olivier Niggli, Director General of WADA, in the hot seat. WADA was also accused of ignoring new evidence revealed by German broadcaster ARD. "We never said that we would not look at new evidence. If there is new evidence that can be verified, we will look into it," said Niggli.
"Can you really sit there and tell sports fans that anti-doping authorities are on the side of stopping dopers rather than facilitating doping and cheating?," Rob Harris, Sky Sports sports correspondent, asked. Another journalist asked: "Are you scared of China or you are just afraid that when you dig into this case you will find something you didn't want to." Meanwhile a Chinese journalist, making reference to the ITA's pre-games statistics which suggest that Chinese athletes have been particularly targeted by testers, asked if it was not unfair.
CHINESE SWIMMERS' CASE Multiple media outlets in April reported that 23 Chinese swimmers had all tested positive for the same banned performance enhancing drug Trimetazidine at a national meet seven months before the Tokyo Olympics and were still allowed to compete at the Games in 2021. Since then there has been growing frustration at the way WADA handled case as well as increasing tension between WADA and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), whose chief Travis Tygart has publicly accused WADA of a cover-up.
FBI INVESTIGATION Following a request by a US House of Representatives committee in May to the US Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), American law enforcement has now taken up the case, and could take action against the swimmers using the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2019, named after Grogory Rodchenkov who led Russia’s state doping programme before turning whistle blower. The Act allows criminal charges to be brought against those found to have committed anti-doping rule violations and it applies to any international sporting competitions that involve American athletes or have financial connections to the US.
SALT LAKE CITY But on Wednesday (July 24), the formal announcement of Salt Lake City-Utah as host of the 2034 Winter Olympics came with a clause that local officials have to work with federal officials “to alleviate your concerns” about doping investigations. And with this clause the IOC can end its Salt Lake City deal if the World Anti-Doping Agency's authority is undermined.
"My understanding was that this move was not to cut criticism, because we are always open for constructive criticism, but it was to make sure that the harmonization of the anti doping system is protected. WADA is like the global regulator and we oversee the system. We have almost 700 code signatories, including 200 countries. So, our role is to make sure that the anti-doping rules in the respective countries are working in accordance with the code," WADA President Banka, said about the IOC's decision.
He added: "It's highly incorrect for one country to try to impose jurisdiction on the anti-doping decisions on the rest of the world because, clearly, the extraterritorial clause is obvious and gives the USA power to investigate all the anti-doping cases in the world."
FOOD CONTAMINATION China’s Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) claimed that the concentration of the banned substance in the swimmers was “extremely low” and ultimately decided that the drug had been accidentally ingested via some contaminated food. WADA were notified a month before the Tokyo Games in 2021 and accepted CHINADA’s conclusion.
Eleven of those Chinese swimmers will be competing again in Paris, and many of their rivals have expressed concern. However, WADA has maintained its decision on the case and said an independent prosecutor had confirmed that its conclusions were reasonable.
"From the very beginning of this case, we followed the rules of the code, and it was clearly confirmed by the independent prosecutor that there was no wrongdoing from our side, no bias towards China. The report from this perspective is crystal clear," the WADA President stressed.
"We see from some individuals that this case is very politicised, with some comments, very unfair criticism and allegations against WADA – that there was a cover-up or violations from our side. Those allegations are, diplomatically speaking, very unfair."
THE RODCHEKOV ACT WADA is planning to review the USA's Rodchenkov Act: "The Rodchenkov Act, especially the extraterritorial clause, will be the subject of our upcoming compliance review in order to see whether or not this legislation is in line with our world anti-doping code.
"One of the tools which we have is a compliance monitoring programme. We are monitoring whether our stakeholders are acting by the code.
"Sometimes, in some countries, the anti-doping regulations and rules are implemented through national legislation, and in other countries, they are implemented through our system.
"One of our duties is to make sure that the system is harmonised, and that these rules are in accordance with the code. So now we're going to analyse very carefully whether the Rodchenkov Act and this clause is in line with the WADA code," Banka explained.
CLEANEST GAMES EVER? Banka however cannot predict if Paris 2024 will be the cleanest Games ever. “It’s not our role to do it. It’s not that now we want to assure that every single athlete is clean. We do not,” Bańka said at the agency’s pre-games news conference. It’s obvious that you will never eliminate doping from the sporting landscape. You will always find someone who wants to cheat.”
“Our role is to oversee the system, to make sure the system is robust, to make sure that we are using all the existing tools to test athletes properly. And not to tell you that the Games are going to be totally clean and you will not have even one single positive test,” he added.
WORLD AQUATICS The President of World Aquatics, Husain Al-Musallam, in a separate press conference reacted to the criticism of World Aquatics' anti-doping system: “We do have confidence in what we do. Here, we made sure that every athlete who came to the Paris Games has been tested. All the athletes who have come here have been tested more than two or three times, and some have been tested 21 times. Every 10 to 15 days, they have been tested.”
Speaking on how he feels when athletes say they have no confidence in drug tests, Brent Nowicki - World Aquatics executive director, said: “It is not what you want any athlete to say. We have to look forward and gain their trust. That is why we go to work every day."
