WADA defends its handling of case regarding Chinese Olympic medalists who tested positive for banned drugs

Montreal [Canada], April 21 : The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rubbished the "outrageous" and "completely false" allegations of mishandling a case from 2021 in which 20 top Chinese swimmers tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, but were nonetheless, able to compete during the Tokyo Olympics that year.
WADA made these comments after the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) chief Travis Tygart accused the agency and other concerned Chinese officials of "sweeping these positives under the carpet" and failing in their mission to make sure rules around drugs in sports are followed, as per CNN.
The dispute follows a report from the New York Times which revealed how 23 Chinese swimmers were cleared to play in competitions despite their positive tests. The report said that the athletes who tested positive included nearly half of the China swimming team which went to Tokyo and won plenty of medals, including three gold medals.
CNN has reached out for a comment from the Chinese Olympic Committee.
WADA said in its statement on Saturday that it "stands by the results of its rigorous scientific investigation" of the case and was "astonished by the outrageous, completely false and defamatory remarks made by (Tygart), who has made very serious accusations against WADA in connection with the case."
In another statement earlier that day, the agency said that it had reviewed carefully the decision from Chinese authorities to let the athletes compete and had also responded to queries about the cases from USADA and the independent International Testing Agency.
China's anti-doping agency, Chinada said that various media reports on the case were "misleading, as per China's state agency, Xinhua.
As per a statement, Chinada did doping tests during a national-level swimming event back in 2021 and found the swimmers positive for an "extremely low concentration" of trimetazidine (TMZ), Xinhua was quoted as saying by CNN.
The substance is a heart medication banned by WADA since 2014 and it effects metabolism, provides endurance in physical activity. The substance received some global spotlight after Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was tested positive for it and was given a four-year-ban ahead of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
In the case of Chinese athletes, Chinada decided not to hold athletes accountable because as per their immediate investigation, it was concluded that athletes took the substance unknowingly through contaminated food, as per Xinhua, according to CNN.
In a statement from Saturday, WADA said that it was notified in June 2021 about Chinada's ruling on the swimmers who had tested positive earlier that year.
"As part of its review, WADA collected additional, unpublished scientific information on TMZ and consulted with independent scientific experts to test the contamination theory and also whether low doses of TMZ could have benefited the athletes during a swimming competition event," the agency said.
"WADA ultimately concluded that it was not in a position to disprove the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ and it was compatible with the analytical data in the file," the statement said, and added that "in all transparency" it shared its findings with investigators, both internal and external.
In another statement on Saturday, Tygart of USADA made accusations against Chinada and WADA of leaving "clean athletes in the dark" and not being transparent about the findings.
"When you blow away their rhetoric, the facts remain as have been reported: WADA failed to provisionally suspend the athletes, disqualify results, and publicly disclose the positives," Tygart said in a statement posted on the USADA's X (formerly Twitter) handle.
"These are egregious failures even if you buy their story that this was contamination and a potent drug 'magically appeared' in a kitchen and led to 23 positive tests of elite Chinese swimmers," Tygart said, referencing details given in The New York Times' article which cited a report from Chinese investigators.
In its earlier response to Tygart, WADA said that it was left with "no choice but to refer this matter to its legal counsel for further action" after Tygart's "false allegations." WADA also said that the media coverage of the whole situation was "misleading and potentially defamatory."