The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has described as politicized the publication in the American media of information about two new positive doping tests of Chinese swimmers.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that two Chinese athletes, one of whom was named to the Olympic team for the 2024 Paris Games, had tested positive for a banned steroid in 2022. WADA found no evidence in the case to challenge the contamination scenario presented by the athletes and the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA).
— The latest news in the US media concerns meat contamination cases involving two swimmers in China. This is actually a larger series of cases involving athletes from different sports (two swimmers, a shooter, and a BMX rider). They all tested positive for traces of the banned substance methandienone in late 2022 and early 2023 at different locations and at different times.
Upon notification, all athletes were suspended pending investigation and remained suspended until the end of 2023, when the investigation was concluded. In the case of two swimmers, they were suspended for more than a year. Samples from the swimmers were taken on October 6, 2022, and tested at a WADA-accredited laboratory in Beijing, and found traces of the banned substance. As CHINADA prepared for the hearing, tests ordered by the athletes on meat samples showed a number of positive results for methandienone. After an investigation, CHINADA concluded that the cases were likely related to meat contamination and closed the cases in late 2023 without alleging wrongdoing, with the athletes remaining suspended throughout this period.
WADA carefully reviewed the cases in early 2024 with due skepticism and concluded that there was no evidence to dispute contaminated meat as the source of the positive tests and therefore decided not to appeal to CAS.
“The politicization of Chinese swimming continues as the US media once again attempts to accuse WADA and the entire anti-doping community of misconduct. As we have seen in recent months, WADA has unfairly found itself at the center of geopolitical tensions between superpowers, but has no mandate to get involved,” WADA said in a statement.
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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.
