MONTREAL, Canada, April 22 (Xinhua) -- The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Banka said at a press conference on April 22 that the agency has always adhered to a consistent attitude and unified principles towards anti-doping, and refuted false accusations that may cover up the truth.
WADA President Banka and key officials attended the online press conference to discuss the relevant scientific facts, procedures, transparency and legal issues, saying that the agency's scientific findings and legal decisions on Chinese athletes are all in accordance with the rules, and that WADA's decision will remain unchanged even if it is restarted.
WADA's general counsel, Ross Wenzel, stressed that similar situations are not without precedent. As an example, he said, in a major case involving more than 10 athletes in the United States in 2014, WADA accepted a similar conclusion from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that the athletes were not at fault for contamination, and that no athletes were charged with anti-doping violations.
"The coverage of Chinese swimmers is clearly politically motivated, because we have always adhered to a consistent attitude and a unified principle [on anti-doping], and we don't take into account which countries these athletes come from," Banka said. Some people say we are too 'soft' on China, and let's not forget that at about the same time in 2021, we were still fighting a lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for Sport because of Sun Yang. ”
Banca said WADA followed all due process at every stage and carefully investigated every thread on the issue. "If we had to do it all over again, we would do the exact same thing. ”
"We have carefully reviewed the decision of the China Anti-Doping Center from all angles. We questioned each piece of evidence and gathered further information as appropriate. As part of this review, we gathered relevant new scientific information and consulted with independent scientific experts. None of the sources provided any credible evidence of misconduct and therefore did not meet the threshold for initiating an investigation. Banka said.
Yang Ge, director of WADA's intelligence and investigation department, reiterated at the press conference that China is not trying to hide positive test results. "Why do they test and report a positive test result when they know it's going to be a lot of problems, and if we find any signs of a problem, we follow it up," Younger said. In this case, based on the information we have so far, we are not going to do anything different. ”
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency reporters on this matter, Yang Yang, vice chairman of WADA, said that anti-doping work is largely a science-based work. At the same time, due to the complex external environment, such as unjustified policies, criminal behavior, political interference, etc., it is essential to have an efficient, transparent and proven management system in place to ensure that the work is carried out and that athletes have confidence in a clean anti-doping system, while also avoiding harm to innocent athletes.
"We have been committed to this over the years, especially in the governance reforms of the past few years, and we are confident in the face of these challenges. Yang Yang said.
In January 2021, the China Anti-Doping Center conducted doping tests at the National Swimming Championships held in Zhengding County, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province. The results showed that some athletes' samples were positive for trimetazidine at very low concentrations. The China Anti-Doping Center immediately carried out an in-depth and detailed investigation from all aspects, and combined with doping inspection, testing and other relevant evidence, it was determined that the athletes involved did not intentionally use prohibited substances, and the positive test was not caused by the use of drugs, nutritional products and other factors, but was caused by the completely unknowingly ingested food contaminated with trimetazidine during the participation in the event.
Since then, WADA has conducted a full review of the case and believes that it is impossible to refute the possibility that trimetazidine is contaminated, and the test data in the case file materials also meet the possibility of contamination, and that the athlete should be found to be not at fault or negligent. According to the relevant regulations, in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of athletes, the doping violation will not be handled and the relevant parties have not appealed the case, and the results will not be announced to the public.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was established in 1999. Its main tasks are to coordinate and supervise global anti-doping affairs, formulate anti-doping regulations and a series of standards, and guide and regulate anti-doping efforts in various regions.