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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡
The tug-of-war between the World Anti-Doping Agency and U.S. news media reached a new low on Friday as WADA traded barbs with the New York Times regarding its story, “Antidoping Agency Lost Track of Open Cases and Test Results Before Olympics.”
WADA ripped the story as inaccurate:
● “Despite WADA having provided the New York Times with the facts, the article contains allegations that are simply wrong.”
● “As was the situation with the New York Times’ reporting on the Chinese swimming cases, instead of following the facts, it has once again opted to be misled by sources with questionable motives as part of a defamation campaign against WADA.”
What did The Times story say?
Essentially that in a May meeting, WADA staff discussed the loss of correct data related to 2,000 cases, including more than 900 test results from athletes who were facing possible doping violations, and sanctions. The situation was made all the more critical by the timing, just a couple of months prior to the Paris Olympic Games.
The story included WADA’s explanation that the data was available, but in a more cumbersome manner until a database migration was completed. But the story observed:
● “While Wada said it was inaccurate to say there was a crisis, the PowerPoint presentation and an account of what occurred in the [23 May] meeting and inside the agency at the time painted a different picture.”
● “This article is based on photographs, obtained by The New York Times, of the PowerPoint presentation used at the meeting at the agency’s headquarters in Montreal and interviews with a former top anti-doping official and a current anti-doping official.”
WADA’s reply came the same day and explained:
“[The story stems] from leaked information connected to an internal technical WADA meeting held in May 2024, between the Agency’s Legal Affairs and IT Departments, concerning data being migrated from an old Results Management system [called LRM] into a new system [called RMC].
“The May meeting was held to discuss the difficulties with the migration and issues that the Legal Affairs Department was having in navigating the RMC and finding the data within it.
“Contrary to what the New York Times alleges, the technical challenges faced by this data migration did not have any negative impact whatsoever on the Paris 2024 Olympic or Paralympic Games. The complete data was accessible at all times and all data related to athletes going to Paris were properly reviewed by WADA.
“All data was still up to date and housed within the old system, LRM, as well as in the Anti-Doping Administration Management System [ADAMS]. For the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, using a combination of RMC, LRM and ADAMS, all the data from those athletes on the Olympic and Paralympic Games shortlists were thoroughly reviewed.
“Both the LRM and RMC are internal systems designed to assist Legal Affairs in its Results Management work – the data available in those systems come from ADAMS and also include all information received from Results Management Authorities by Legal Affairs.”
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which has been in a war of words with WADA for more than a year, chimed in on Monday with its own call to action:
“If anyone had doubts before, this latest revelation appears to show how necessary it is for all those who value fair sport to join the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and public authorities in stepping in to right the ship. When will enough be enough to take action to restore credibility to the global anti-doping system?
“Right now, the global anti-doping movement is the most fractured and divided it’s been since WADA first opened its doors in 1999 and it has as little trust by athletes and the public as ever before. It starts and stops at the top.”
¶
Further to the USADA call, it’s worth noting that WADA President Witold Banka (POL) was elected to a second and “final” term in 2022 that will end at the close of 2025, but regulations passed in 2023 appear to allow him to serve a third, three-year term for a total of nine years in total. So, he isn’t going anywhere.
The new rules designate a first term of six years with one further term of three years available, for a total of nine. This brings the function of President in line with the nine-year limit on Executive Committee members.
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