WASHINGTON — Two hours after the World Anti-Doping Agency “invited an independent prosecutor” to probe its handling of a controversial case involving Chinese swimmers, the agency’s most vocal critic labeled the review a “whitewash” and “absolutely unacceptable.”
Travis Tygart leaned forward as he made the accusation at the head of a table here in Washington D.C., where he spent Thursday on Capitol Hill lobbying members of Congress “to ensure justice gets served in this case.”
As CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and perhaps the foremost advocate for clean U.S. athletes, he has called China’s excuses “a fairytale,” and called for a “full review of how it came to be that 23 Chinese positive tests were covered up” in 2021.
But the investigation that WADA announced Thursday, which will be led by experienced Swiss attorney Eric Cottier, felt like “Exhibit A of the problem with this [global anti-doping] system,” Tygart said. “It’s a circle-the-wagons effort to protect itself.”
WADA said that it would launch the probe with “unanimous support” from its executive committee. It will grant Cottier “full and unfettered access to all of WADA’s files and documents related to this matter,” and has tasked him with answering two core questions:
In its news release, though, WADA continued to call the dozens of positive tests a “no-fault contamination case.” It has accepted the explanation from Chinese authorities that a banned heart medication, trimetazidine (TMZ), was detected months later in the kitchen of a hotel where the 23 swimmers were staying.
It said that it would invite the probe “in light of the damaging and baseless allegations.” It did not mention Tygart by name, but has already threatened legal action against USADA. “WADA’s integrity and reputation is under attack,” WADA president Witold Banka said in a Thursday statement. “In the past few days, WADA has been unfairly accused of bias in favor of China.”
The language suggested to Tygart that the “independent” probe would be “pre-cooked.” He said he didn’t trust it “at all.” He cited a lack of athlete input. He cited “the retaliatory nature of that press release.”
Tygart specifically cited a statement from Ryan Pini, a Papua New Guinean former swimmer who now serves on WADA’s executive committee, at the conclusion of the release. “It is a matter of great concern for us that these athletes, who, given the facts of this case, are entirely innocent and, in fact, victims of contamination without any fault or negligence on their side, are now being accused of wrongdoing with their names and sensitive details about them being published,” Pini said. “I have asked WADA to conduct a full inquiry into what led to this information being leaked to the media and to take all necessary steps to sanction those responsible for exposing these athletes to unfair criticism and to ensure athletes rights are protected.”
Tygart felt that this amounted to whistleblower intimidation — to “attacking the very people that you would want to have come talk to you.”
WADA also said that, separate from Cottier’s investigation, it would soon “send a compliance audit team to China in order to assess the current state of its anti-doping program as part of the Agency’s regular compliance monitoring program. For added reassurance, WADA will invite a number of independent auditors from the broader anti-doping community to join the audit team on that mission.”
Source Agencies
