Bipartisan E&C Leaders Press WADA President for Additional Information About its Failure to Penalize Chinese Swimmers Who Failed Drug Doping Tests

Jul 25, 2024

Letter comes on the eve of athletes competing in the Paris Olympics and after WADA's President refused to attend an Energy and Commerce Committee oversight hearing

Washington, D.C. -In a new letter to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Witold Banka, bipartisan House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders pressed for answers regarding WADA's handling of positive doping cases within China's national swimming team ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

The letter contains questions that bipartisan Committee Members would have asked during a recent Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing, which Mr. Banka was invited to attend but refused to appear. Witnesses that did testify at the hearing included:

• Michael Phelps,American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist
• Allison Schmitt,American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist
• Travis Tygart, Chief Executive Officer, United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)

KEY EXCERPTS:

"We write today to express our sincere disappointment at your refusal to accept our invitation to attend and provide testimony at our recent Subcommittee hearing. Members of Congress have important questions for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and are especially concerned about recent reports of your handling of dozens of cases of doping within the Chinese swimming team.

"WADA purports to maintain the integrity of sports by creating a fair and competitive sporting environment free from doping. As a U.S. taxpayer supported entity, WADA has a responsibility to the American people to ensure this integrity by enforcing international testing requirements. We believe WADA has fallen short of this important mission."

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"We are particularly concerned with the excessive deference being extended toward CHINADA-a state-funded operation with leadership deeply intertwined with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as current [Chinese Anti-Doping Agency] CHINADA director Li Zhiquan also serves as a Committee Secretary for the CCP. At a meeting in 2023, Zhiquan called on CHINADA employees to be 'loyal to the party' and to 'hold high the great banner of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.' Furthermore, WADA's reported sponsorship arrangement with ANTA Sports-the Chinese athletic company sponsoring the Chinese Olympic Committee and China's national swimming federation-could be perceived as a conflict of interest. Since WADA is expected to uphold and maintain international anti-doping standards, WADA's apparent lack of skepticism and failure to enforce the rules against CHINADA is troubling. While we are aware that WADA has opened an investigation, we are concerned that international scrutiny was necessary to force due diligence that should be routine."

[...]

"This incident unfortunately reinforces our concern that WADA appears to be reverting to its previous poor management practices."

[...]

"With the Paris Summer Olympic Games Opening Ceremony just a day away, the Committee seeks to better understand the circumstances surrounding WADA's decision not to appeal the decision to clear the twenty-three swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine."

BACKGROUND:

• In January 2021, 23 Chinese swimmers ("23 swimmers") tested positive for trimetazidine, or TMZ, a banned substance improperly used to increase stamina and hasten recovery times.
• Three months after the positive tests, CHINADA initiated an investigation into the source of the TMZ and by June 2021 claimed the athletes ingested the banned substance through food tainted in a hotel kitchen.
• According to reporting, Chinese investigators "offered no explanation […] for how a prescription drug available only in pill form had contaminated an entire kitchen."
• In reliance on "external legal advice" and its science department, WADA determined that CHINADA's claims were "plausible" and chose not to appeal the decision or further investigate the matter.
• Three of these Chinese swimmers went on to win gold medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games in July of 2021.
• China has selected 11 swimmers that tested positive for TMZ before the Tokyo Games to compete in the upcoming Paris Games.
• In a strikingly similar case, Kamila Valieva, a Russian figure skater, also tested positive for the banned substance TMZ during the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
• The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) issued a provisional suspension but was quickly cleared by RUSADA's discipline board, since Valieva claimed she ingested the substance by mistake through a contaminated source.
• Rather than simply accept RUSADA's contamination explanation, WADA appealed the decision and ultimately, Valieva received a four-year ban from competition and was retroactively stripped of her gold medal.

The letter was signed by Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., (D-NJ), Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Ranking Member Kathy Castor (D-FL).

CLICK HERE to read the full letter.

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