WADA reaffirms support for decision on Chinese swimmers

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) reaffirmed its position against the politicization of sport, and took a firm stance to support the decision regarding the contamination cases involving 23 swimmers from China at the 19th Annual Symposium here on Tuesday.

In front of almost 1,000 delegates from around the world, WADA president Witold Banka said in his opening speech: "At all stages, WADA was confident that it had done the right thing. We fully cooperated with an investigation into our handling of the cases by an Independent Prosecutor, Eric Cottier, from Switzerland. In the end, that review conclusively showed that WADA had acted correctly and fairly. It concluded that WADA showed no bias towards China; that its decision not to appeal the cases was reasonable and that it followed the rules."

Twenty-three Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine due to contamination in early 2021, a case which had been thoroughly investigated and the conclusion of which was carefully reviewed and accepted by WADA. The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) criticized WADA for accepting the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA)'s decision not to punish the athletes.