The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appointed an independent prosecutor, Eric Cottier, to thoroughly check the files of 23 Chinese swimmers whose doping samples contained a banned substance, the organization’s press service reported on April 25.
“The integrity and reputation of the WADA are at risk””said WADA President Witold Banka.
According to him, the anti-doping agency is now unfairly accused of bias in favor of China because WADA did not appeal the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency’s case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“We continue to reject the false accusations and welcome the opportunity to put these matters in the hands of an experienced, respected and independent prosecutor. “I thank the members of the WADA executive committee for coming together on such short notice and for their support in this matter.”said the head of the organization.
The appointment of the prosecutor was unanimously supported, including by the WADA executive committee.
Let us remember that on April 20, The New York Times reported positive results of doping tests on 23 Chinese swimmers who participated in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The substance trimetazidine was detected. However, WADA did not suspend the athletes, citing the weak evidence base for the allegations.
The Chinese side asked that no action be taken against its swimmers, alleging that they had inadvertently consumed a banned substance and assured that the amount was small. An investigation by China’s Anti-Doping Agency linked the cause of the incident to contaminated food.
On April 23, the United States Anti-Doping Agency demanded the appointment of an independent prosecutor to review the case of possible concealment of positive doping tests by Chinese athletes.
It should be noted that in January Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified for the discovery of trimetazidine. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, at the request of WADA, suspended the athlete from Russia for four years and annulled all of her achievements as of December 25, 2021.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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