Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
World, U.S. drug police spar
Positive Chinese tests spur contentious spat, legal threats
DENVER — Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-doping Agency and the head of the U.S. drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’S fiercest critics.
WADA said Saturday it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-doping Agency, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.”
The allegation was made after WADA acknowledged it had cleared 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for a banned heart medication to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after agreeing with that country’s authorities that the samples had been contaminated.
WADA defended its process, and said it acted in good faith and according to due process when it decided not to challenge the Chinese explanation for the positives. It then turned its attention to Tygart, saying it “is astonished by the outrageous, completely false and defamatory remarks” he made.
WADA pointed out that USADA has, several times over the years, accepted “similar conclusions of contamination involving a number of U.S. athletes.”
Tygart came back with another statement, noting the difference between USADA’S handling of contamination cases and this one. The Chinese case involves a medication called trimetazidine (TMZ) that was also at the center of the case that led to the suspension of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
TMZ is known to help athletes improve stamina and decrease recovery times. Its use comes with the most stringent penalties under anti-doping rules.
Tygart said USADA’S previous contamination cases have not involved TMZ.
“And, most importantly, in all contamination cases that we have proven, we provisionally suspended the athlete, disqualified the results, found a violation, and issued an announcement as required by the rules,” he said.