WADA labels accusations 'politically motivated'

General counsel Ross Wenzel points out USADA double standards

The World Anti-Doping Agency has hit back media accusations that it helped cover up a 2021 contamination case involving Chinese swimmers, reiterating the integrity of its ruling and the innocence of Chinese athletes.

With stories developed on leaked information of the case drawing unwanted attention, WADA took to a virtual news conference on Monday to address allegations it mishandled a case involving 23 Chinese swimmers testing positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) in early 2021. Its president Witold Banka and general counsel Ross Wenzel were present at the conference, during which Banka refuted misleading reports on the incident that took place in January 2021 and was categorized as a no-fault environmental contamination following a thorough and transparent investigation.

WADA officials stressed that they found no "credible evidence" to disprove the Chinese anti-doping authorities' conclusion that all the swimmers testing positive for an "extremely low concentration" of TMZ had ingested the banned substance unwittingly after inadvertently being exposed to it at a hotel during a national meet almost half a year before the Tokyo Olympics.