The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is in turmoil. After the revelations about the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive but were not sanctioned, she was questioned by the American anti-doping agency (USADA). She accused him of creating a diversion by targeting American athletes, in a press release published this Monday.
USADA criticized WADA President Witold Banka for distorting the facts “to distract from the questions the world is asking about how WADA allowed China to hide under the carpet 23 positive tests”.
USADA accuses WADA of diversion
WADA assures that the 23 Chinese swimmers, tested positive a few months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, were victims of a case of food contamination. She had accused USADA, very virulent in this matter, of “lies” and called on the United States to strengthen its anti-doping system.
Witold Banka also cited the case of three American athletes who tested positive, and for whom it was recognized that they had also been victims of external contamination, like the Chinese swimmers. USADA recalled that these cases had been made public, unlike the case of the Chinese swimmers, revealed a few weeks ago by the New York Times and the German channel ARD, and that the athletes in question had been sanctioned.
USADA also criticized Witold Banka for specifying that 90% of American athletes played in leagues that did not respect the world anti-doping code: “These comments are harmful to all the athletes in these leagues and to these leagues themselves. . »
Before concluding: “There is nothing more classic when you want to hide something than to create a diversion and throw smoke and mirrors. And the second most classic response when you want to conceal something is to try to silence the messenger, and this is currently the case: Banka and his representatives are sinking into disinformation and half-truths to launching personal attacks, going so far as to throw a contract at the heads of American athletes. »
