The Biden administration’s top drug official said on Monday how Chinese and global anti-doping authorities will round up 23 elite Chinese swimmers who tested positive for banned substances in the months before the 2021 Summer Olympics. It called for an independent investigation into the decision.
Rahul Gupta, director of the National Drug Control Policy Bureau, said the handling of positive tests will be addressed at a two-day sports ministers’ meeting in Washington. The event, which begins Thursday, will be attended by top members of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
“The United States is committed to providing all American athletes and athletes around the world with a level playing field and fair access to international athletic competition,” Dr. I support it.” “A rigorous, independent investigation is required to investigate any incident of potential wrongdoing.”
Dr. Gupta, a member of WADA’s executive committee, said in a statement from his office that he and his staff had not been briefed on the swimmers’ incidents until Friday. The next day, a Times investigation revealed that swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart disease drug trimetazidine (TMZ) and the response of domestic and international anti-doping authorities. Ta.
The 23 Chinese swimmers were not suspended or publicly identified before the Summer Olympics. At the Tokyo Games, he won five medals, including three gold medals. When it was revealed that they had continued to compete despite testing positive for TMZ, some Olympic athletes reacted angrily, while others accused them of covering up the anti-doping movement.
Dr. Gupta’s request for an investigation came as WADA held a video call with reporters to try to contain the fallout from the exposure of the positive test. In a virtual press conference that lasted nearly two hours, WADA executives and the organization’s legal chief repeatedly defended its handling of the case.
WADA President Witold Banka said: “If we had to do it all over again now, we would do exactly the same thing.”
Still, WADA acknowledged that its own protocols were not followed in this incident, and due to the pandemic, it will not allow hearings of the affected swimmers to investigate how the drugs entered their bodies. It was confirmed that the meeting was not held. WADA announced that it has decided not to appeal China’s decision to not suspend the athletes, which many anti-doping experts had said WADA should have done. This is because the players will ultimately be cleared of wrongdoing based on the available evidence.
And WADA said authorities accepted without independent verification the findings of China’s State Security Agency, which reported finding traces of drugs in the hotel kitchen but did not say how they got there. I reconfirmed it.
To strengthen their case, WADA officials asked the original manufacturer of trimetazidine to obtain non-public information from the companies regarding trimetazidine’s excretion period (how long it takes for it to be eliminated from the human body). He explained in detail the content of extensive research and scientific considerations, including:
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to a question about the positive test at a press conference on Monday, declaring the reports to be “false information and reporting.”
This week’s two-day meeting in Washington could turn awkward after public broadcaster ARD aired a documentary about the incident, and following statements from government officials, including Germany’s sports minister, who called for an investigation.
The event is the annual meeting of the Sports Council of the Americas, known by its Spanish acronym “CADE,” and brings together representatives from more than 40 countries and guests from across sports.
Officials scheduled to speak include WADA president Banca and the organization’s No. 3 official, Olivier Nigri.
By April 2021, Nigri had received copies of emails about Chinese swimmers testing positive, according to emails obtained by The Times. At that point, China had decided not to hold public hearings or suspend athletes, as anti-doping experts had insisted they should do.
Email — sent by official China’s anti-doping agency, Chinada, addressed WADA’s head of legal affairs, Julian Siebeking. The photo showed Mr. Nigri, who serves as the agency’s chief administrator as director.
As recently as March, Dr. Gupta spoke in glowing terms about WADA’s efforts to reform in the wake of Russian state-sponsored doping. But he warned of the continuing risk from bad actors seeking to undermine the global anti-doping system.
After accepting the award on behalf of the public sector bodies that contribute half of WADA’s budget, namely governments, Mr. We have to continue.” The United States is the country with the highest single payment.
“With so much at stake, from national pride to winners’ billions to the dreams of children around the world, WADA must stay ahead of this evolving threat.”Gupta the doctor said.
