At the Paris Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency was caught in a dispute with the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
There are new reports that more Chinese swimmers, one of whom is competing at the Paris Olympics, have been ruled out of doping because of food contamination.
In another incident involving a doping investigation involving 23 Chinese swimmers in April, Tang Muhan and He Junyi tested positive for drugs after eating french fries, Coke and burgers at a Beijing restaurant in October 2022, according to U.S. media reports.
Chinada's anti-doping agency (Chinada) then ruled that the steroid came from contaminated meat in a burger and declared that the two had not used doping. The World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed that the two swimmers tested positive in a drug test in October 2022, but said it was just one of many more positive results in meat contamination tests in China.
"The Chinese anti-doping agency also analyzed the athlete's nutritional supplements and conducted a hair test, which was negative," WADA said. Notably, both swimmers provided negative doping test samples in the days before and after a single positive drug test. ”
However, the United States Anti-Doping Agency reacted angrily to the statement and accused WADA of allowing China to "compete according to a different set of rules so that the outcome of the competition would be favorable to them."
Travis Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, said: "There is overwhelming evidence that the system has failed, that WADA has accepted that China can play by its own rules, and that the public has lost confidence in Olympic values. ”
WADA counters accusations United States tries to tarnish its reputation by suggesting wrongdoing. "The politicization of swimming in China continues in recent attempts by United States media to suggest misconduct by the World Anti-Doping Agency and broader anti-doping agencies," the agency said in a statement.
WADA continues to fight back, "This incident has once again raised the issue of contamination more widely, particularly in food." Based on the number of cases, it is clear that several other countries in the world have pollution problems. In addition to China, there have been several such cases in the United States in the past few months alone, all of which have acknowledged highly complex pollution situations. The ongoing review of the World Anti-Doping Code and international standards will provide an opportunity for Clean Sport to consider how to address this ongoing problem. ”