Swimming has a crisis of confidence
Chinese doping scandal leaves athletes outraged and WADA facing calls for independent review
If another siege of the World AntiDoping Agency is beginning, it’s past due.
This week the U.K. Anti-Doping Agency, Sport Integrity Australia, the National Anti-Doping Agency of Germany and the U.S Anti-Doping Agency all called for an independent review of WADA’s decision to allow China’s anti-doping agency, CHINADA, to excuse 23 positive swimming tests in 2021. The Times in England reported top swimmers are considering suing WADA. The U.S. government has taken note, too. For WADA, this is a crisis.
And the most effective and unafraid counterweight to what many believe is a compromised WADA is USADA chief Travis Tygart. WADA and CHINADA have raised the spectre of suing him for his comments on this case; WADA, in a statement, called Tygart’s criticism “politically motivated.” Tygart has been in the job since 2007, but started with USADA in 2002, which means he has worked through some truly huge moments. This is another one.
“That’s criminal defence attorney stuff,” says Tygart in a phone interview. “That’s what Lance Armstrong
tried to (do): personalize it and question the motives of the other people, and this is well beyond that. This is about the fair and consistent application of the rules, and nothing more. We were accused of being anti-American when we brought our case against Lance Armstrong. So we’ve seen it before, right? It’s a diversion tactic. It doesn’t work. But it also shows their willingness to stoop to that level.
“I learned it in Armstrong, and in BALCO, when Marion Jones tried some of that stuff. I was a young naive lawyer, thinking the world is perfect and we’re going to make it perfect. And what it does, if you’re on the receiving end of it, you know that you struck a chord.”
The most striking part of WADA’s actions on the 23 positive tests was that degree of deferral to China’s anti-doping agency, using an investigation by Chinese state security, with no oversight. The positives were explained away as contamination — with a banned heart medication that had no disclosed source, in a kitchen, with traces found on surfaces two months later in a country that decontaminated surfaces with such zeal that they sprayed parking lots with disinfectant during the 2022 Olympics — and were never made public.
So even in a world where the International Olympic Committee has tried to silence critics, there is rule-based pushback from USADA and the fair-play entity Global Athlete. And athletes are increasingly outraged.
“We don’t have the same level of trust as we did before the Russia incident,” says retired Canadian swimmer Brent Hayden, who won bronze at the 2012 Games and competed in four Olympics. “If the Russian incident had never happened, maybe we would be taking WADA at their word, but the trust in WADA was already tarnished.
“I’m not (judging the case) one way or the other, but it doesn’t seem like WADA is on the athletes’ side right now.”
WADA has tried to defend its methods and attack its critics. But this is becoming a fundamental question about what WADA should do.
“You have 28 positive tests from 23 athletes, you had specific tips from USADA, and turns out from the (International Testing Agency),” says Tygart. “The tips we gave you were specific. What do you mean you didn’t open an investigation?”
WADA did enlist a special prosecutor, Eric Cottier, to judge its conduct on this case: he happens to be the former attorney general of the canton in Switzerland where the IOC is located. Small town, international sports. USADA, for its part, blasted the limited scope and seemingly cosy choice of lawyer.
All this needs to be viewed through the lens of recent history. WADA had to be pushed hard to pursue Russia’s doping program in 2016, and it was in danger of being buried until Grigory Rodchenkov, the architect of the Russian system, came forward. WADA seems reluctant to pursue Chinese whistleblowers, and although it is unlikely there is a Chinese Rodchenkov, information is hope.
“There are obviously people out there, in China or elsewhere, that believe in fair play,” says Tygart. “And look, there were Chinese athletes who lost out on this: there were people above them who weren’t disqualified.
“You never know where people who believe in playing within the rules are going to stand up. We saw that in Russia, with someone working at the Russian anti-doping agency, and (whistleblowers) Vitaly and (Yuliya) Stepanova, who just said, we don’t want to play this way. So while the system doesn’t follow the rules, and CHINADA covers up, and WADA is OK with that, at least there’s people out there that are willing to come forward and be courageous and do the right thing to expose the truth.”
If this is a siege of WADA it will run on the fuel of whistleblowers, lit by the spark of the people who still believe. This isn’t Tygart’s first showdown. It may yet, however, become the biggest one of all.
‘‘ This is about the fair and consistent application of the rules, and nothing more. TRAVIS TYGART EXECUTIVE CHIEF OF THE U.S. ANTI-DOPING AGENCY