Peaty stands bycomments over‘secrecy’ from WADA
Adam Peaty has reiterated his criticism of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for a “lack of transparency” following allegations 23 Chinese swimmers were permitted to compete at the Tokyo Olympics despite testing positive for a banned substance.
China’s 30-strong swimming team at the delayed Games in 2021 won six medals, including three golds, but a joint investigation by German TV channel ARD and the New York Times claimed last week that a majority tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart drug that improves performance, seven months beforehand.
The revelations have caused widespread criticism of WADA, which accepted an explanation from Chinese authorities blaming accidental contamination at the team hotel.
On Saturday, a post on X from Britain’s triple Olympic champion Peaty said: “Why not release this information at the time, who really benefits from the lack of transparency and secrecy? So disappointing from WADA.”
And on Wednesday, the 29-year-old was quoted by Swimming World as saying: “I stand by what I said on Twitter about the lack of transparency from WADA.
“It’s not necessarily the country. As an athlete we all want to be treated fairly, we all want to be treated with full transparency and making sure that in those cases those results are not hidden and they’re not put under secrecy. That is where I stand on it and I think a lot of swimmers are obviously very disappointed in WADA.”
A statement from UK AntiDoping (UKAD) said it “notes with concern” what had been reported and that “a more transparent approach is needed”, calling on WADA “in this specific case, to now initiate an independent review of the regulatory framework and processes applied.”