A recent article in the US media today mentions a meat contamination case involving two Chinese swimmers. In fact, this relates to a wider series of incidents involving athletes from different sports (two swimmers, one shooter and one BMX rider), all of whom tested positive for traces of the banned substance methandienone at different locations and times in late 2022 and early 2023. Upon notification, all athletes were immediately provisionally suspended pending an investigation, to remain so until late 2023 when the investigation is completed. Thus, in the case of the two swimmers, a suspension of more than one year.
As for the swimmers, after samples were taken on 6 October 2022 and analysed by a WADA-accredited laboratory in Beijing, they were found to have trace amounts of the substance in their bodies (at pg/mL levels, 1 pg is one trillionth of a gram). They were formally notified on 3 November 2022 and provisionally suspended for the purpose of asserting a four-year suspension at the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) Anti-Doping Tribunal. While CHINADA was preparing for the hearing, testing of meat samples commissioned by the athletes found several positive results for methandienone.
Subsequently, during another testing mission in early 2023, a shooter and a BMX rider also tested positive for traces of the same substance. The two athletes, who are not competing in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, have also been notified and provisionally suspended. Following this development, CHINADA has suspended procedures against the two swimmers until an investigation into the possible contamination is completed.
CHINADA’s investigation included testing hundreds of meat samples from a variety of sources, with dozens of samples testing positive for methandienone. CHINADA also analyzed the athletes’ nutritional supplements and conducted hair tests, which came back negative. Notably, both athletes submitted negative doping test samples several days before and after their single positive test. Following its investigation, CHINADA concluded that four of the cases were likely related to meat contamination and closed the cases without alleging any violations in late 2023, during which the athletes were provisionally suspended.
WADA and the international federations involved (including the International Cycling Union, the International Shooting Federation, and World Aquatics) all had the opportunity to review the case and, if appropriate, appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). WADA thoroughly reviewed the case in early 2024 with sufficient skepticism and concluded that there was no evidence to dispute that the cause of the positive test was contaminated meat, and therefore decided not to appeal to CAS. Various other anti-doping organizations also did not appeal. As WADA has previously suggested, no anti-doping organization has ever appealed a case to change a no-fault decision to a no-fault decision in the absence of evidence to dispute a no-fault contamination scenario.
However, following these cases, WADA wished to assess the status, scale and risk of meat contamination with methandienone in China and other countries. As a result, WADA opened an investigation in early 2024. As this is being conducted by WADA’s independent Intelligence and Investigations department and is ongoing, WADA I&I will go where the evidence leads, and therefore WADA cannot comment further.
The issue revisits broader issues about food and other contamination that WADA addressed in 2010. Statement of June 14, 2024Judging by the number of cases, there is clearly a contamination problem in several countries around the world. WADA is generally concerned by the number of cases where the contamination claims are unsuccessfully challenged at the CAS and are terminated without sanction. There have been numerous cases where positive tests were found but were ultimately terminated without sanction for non-fault violations, even in cases where the contamination method was unusual. Apart from China in particular, there have been several such cases in the United States in the past few months alone, where very complex contamination scenarios were accepted. The ongoing review of the World Anti-Doping Code and international standards will be an opportunity to consider possible solutions to this ongoing problem with clean sport.
The politicization of Chinese swimming continues with the latest attempts by US media to implicate WADA and the broader anti-doping community. As we have seen in recent months, WADA has been unfairly caught in the middle of geopolitical tensions between superpowers, yet has no authority to take part in their activities.
