Paris 2024 Olympic Games: the global policeman in the fight against doping, WADA, in the middle of a storm three months before the Games

allegations

Why the Chinese swimmers weren't suspended ?

Normally, when an athlete tests positive for a banned substance, he or she is automatically suspended, an automaticity that WADA imposes on anti-doping agencies.

Also read: "China files" : what we know about the doping scandal involving Chinese Olympic medalist swimmers

However, the Chinese anti-doping agency Chinada did not suspend the 23 swimmers who tested positive at the start of 2021 for trimetazidine. However, it is an "unspecified" substance, banned since 2014 on the grounds that it improves blood circulation, already detected in Chinese swimmer Sun Yang and the young Russian skater Kamila Valieva.

L'AMA, which assures that it has "acted with due diligence and in accordance with procedure", tried to explain this incongruity on Monday: a clause – almost never used – makes it possible not to automatically suspend the athlete if he is heard before any sanction.

"Except that there, the swimmers concerned could not even be interviewed, the Chinese agency having assured that the restrictions linked to Covid did not allow it", analyzes a source within French anti-doping. Why did the Chinada investigators not hear the athletes via video in this case? The question remains.

An investigation in question

The way Chinada presented his investigation "does not fit at all with the rules usually imposed by WADA", according to an anti-doping expert who requested anonymity.

When an athlete is tested with a prohibited substance in the body, it is up to him to provide evidence of possible accidental contamination and contamination. ;absence of intention to take drugs.

Also read: Paris 2024 Olympics: after the revelation of 23 cases of doping among Chinese swimmers, Beijing and WADA are trying to put out the fire

In the case of the Chinese swimmers, the investigation was carried out by the Ministry of Public Security, attached to the Chinese secret services, according to the German television channel ARD which revealed on Saturday the & #39;business with the New York Times.

And it was then the Chinese agency which wrote a report submitted in March 2021 to the AMA, concluding that there was food contamination in the food provided by the hotel where residents were staying. the swimmers. "It's quite lunar, it's a bit like if a policeman checks you for speeding and at the same time he put on a lawyer's robe to defend yourself", summarizes another source.

Why WADA validated the Chinese procedure ?

This is the missing link in this case. "No one understands why WADA did nothing, nor said anything", summarizes the expert. The role of WADA, presented as the global anti-doping policeman, consists in particular of monitoring the legality of the procedures of anti-doping agencies.

And she is especially known for being rather intransigent when it comes to respecting the rules. "As soon as a country steps outside the framework imposed by WADA, it normally takes a hit with the rule", summarizes a source within anti-doping French. In the case of the Chinese procedure, "there are too many irregularities, gray areas for it to pass normally like a letter in the post' ;quot;, assures this source.

WADA has the possibility of seizing the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to challenge a decision of an anti-doping agency, which it has done, for example in the case of Russian skater Valieva. But there, she didn't do it. "When we see the behavior of WADA with Russia in the Valieva affair, the contrast is obvious and raises questions", asks the expert.

A system in danger ?

This affair could have serious consequences according to several anti-doping players. "Clearly, there is a risk of secession from the USA, and if they leave, it's over," he summarizes.

Since the revelation of the affair, the head of American anti-doping Travis Tygart and the head of WADA Witold Banka have clashed violently . Their relations were already fresh, the United States having difficulty accepting the authority of this body which is not attached to any State, and to which it is the most important financial contributor.

In a press release released Tuesday, the American anti-doping agency considers that this case marks a "obvious failure of the global anti-doping system" and calls for an overhaul of the AMA as well as "the appointment of an independent prosecutor responsible for examining the entire file of these 23 positive tests and to ensure that justice is done".

Because this affair could be a blow to the confidence that countries place in WADA. "However, the system is based on the trust placed in the gendarme, it's the keystone", continues this source, who fears "that at least heads will fall to avoid a collapse of the system.