Ross Wenzel, legal director of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), said the concentration of trimetazidine in the Chinese swimmers’ doping samples was lower than that of the Russian figure skater. Kamila Valieva .
On Saturday, the New York Times published an article claiming that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for doping. The authors accuse WADA of ignoring whistleblower data, as well as inconsistency in handling various doping cases. The Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (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.
— The concentration of trimetazidine in Valieva’s samples was 2.1 nanograms per liter; in Chinese swimmers, this concentration was significantly lower. They also observed fluctuations in the results: positive samples alternated with negative samples. The fundamental point is that in Valieva’s case, nothing excluded the possibility that the pharmacological dose of trimetazidine was not taken several days before the competition.
The explanation that Valieva initially presented to the visiting committee of the Court of Arbitration for Sport was not supported by pharmacokinetics.
She said the trimetazidine entered her system through a dessert made by her grandfather. There was no evidence of this and this is clearly stated in the CAS decision. In the case of the Chinese swimmers, we are dealing with trimetazidine, which was found in the kitchen of the hotel where the athletes lived, and we had no evidence that would allow us to challenge the thesis of accidental contamination “Wenzel said at a press conference.
Chinese swimmers at the 2020 Olympics won 6 medals (3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze) and 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; trimetazidine was found in his sample. The suspension period is counted from December 25, 2021, and its results are canceled from this date.
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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.
