Thomas Zummerer, president of the German Sports Lawyers Association, said the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) should have immediately imposed provisional suspensions on swimmers who tested positive for doping.
On Saturday, the New York Times reported that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for trimetazidine. The authors accuse the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) of ignoring whistleblowers’ evidence and being inconsistent in handling different doping cases. A similar drug was found in a sample from Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. She was disqualified for four years.
— It is obvious that there was an anti-doping rule violation. CHINADA should have considered the case from these positions. In such a case, a provisional suspension should have been imposed immediately on the offending athletes. Additionally, all results, medals and prizes should have been canceled. The names of the suspected athletes as well as the name of the substance had to be revealed. WADA, as the main regulator, should have intervened and shed light on the situation. “I’m surprised that WADA didn’t do this,” Sommerer told German broadcaster ARD.
CHINADA acknowledged the athletes’ positive samples, but said trimetazidine entered their bodies unintentionally and in small quantities. The organization conducted its own investigation and discovered that the substance had been found on kitchen utensils at the hotel where the swimmers lived.
Later, Chinese swimmers, including those who tested positive for trimetazidine, won three gold, two silver and one bronze medals at the 2020 Olympics. They also broke several world records.
Valieva’s case became public in February 2022 during the Beijing Olympics. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) disqualified the Russian for four years for violating anti-doping rules. The suspension period is counted from December 25, 2021, and its results are canceled from this date.
The CAS decision led to a review of the results of the team figure skating tournament at the 2022 Olympics, where the Russian team won. First place is now awarded to the American team, the Japanese are second and the Russians will receive bronze. Valieva is also deprived of gold at the 2022 European Championship.
ARD
Source : MatchTV
I’m John White and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. My specialty is covering sports news, which I’ve been doing for over 6 years now. During this time, I have worked as an author with Athletistic, a popular online news website focusing on sports topics.
