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≡ WADA’S RESPONSE TO ARD ≡
The World Anti-Doping Agency’s head of Intelligence and Investigations, Gunter Younger (GER) told reporters Thursday that it is, indeed, trying to uncover the source of information provided to news media about the 2021 Chinese mass-positives doping incident.
Younger said, “We’re not chasing the whistleblower. What we want to try to find out is how the leak happened and what was the motivation of the leak.”
He said the agency maintains strong protections on behalf of informants, but think the leak could have been politically motivated.
The Russian news agency TASS reported a longer, explanatory statement from WADA:
“A misleading article appeared on a German sports website, in which the authors attempt to present a completely different, erroneous story based on false assumptions and rumors.
“In May 2024, the WADA Athletes’ Council issued a public statement asking WADA’s Intelligence and Investigations Department to investigate the leak of personal data related to cases of unintentional detection of banned substances in samples of Chinese swimmers in 2021.
“This data included highly confidential medical records of athletes, some of whom were minors at the time, and the Athletes’ Council was concerned that the rights of these athletes had been violated by those who leaked confidential information to media outlets, which in turn published the names, photographs, and medical data of these children.
“As for the details of the ongoing investigation, WADA’s Intelligence and Investigations Department operates independently of the organization’s leadership.”
The story by the German ARD channel reported that the inquiry “is being conducted with the consent of President Witold Banka [POL] and director general Olivier Niggli [SUI]”:
“According to information from the ARD doping editorial team, various anti-doping organisations have been asked by WADA in recent months to disclose details that could lead to the identification of possible whistleblowers in connection with the ‘China file’. This happened despite the security risks that such an action entails for potential whistleblowers in Chinese affairs.”
ARD editor Hajo Seppelt (GER) wrote on X:
“What a mockery, how WADA officials twist even the simplest facts in the China case. Instead, they hunt down brave whistleblowers (with the argument that they’ve been urged to do so). I wonder who in WADA leadership can still look themselves in the mirror.”
Questions over the doping positives of 23 Chinese star swimmers at a national meet in January 2021 continues to dog WADA, despite extensive efforts by the agency to clear itself, including a report from the former attorney general of the Swiss canton of Vaud, which raised more questions than it provided answers.
Criticism continues among news media – including ARD – but also by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, which has refused to pay the U.S. annual dues of $3.6 million for 2024.
ARD’s summary of the affair and the issues it raised included:
“WADA’s handling of the China affair sparked worldwide criticism, and to this day, athlete organisations accuse it of a lack of consistency and transparency, as well as of bowing to the sporting superpower China. In China, an investigation supervised by state security forces in 2021, shortly before the Tokyo Olympics, concluded that all 23 swimmers who tested positive had been unintentionally contaminated by hotel food during a national competition. However, no evidence or detailed explanations were provided.
“WADA nonetheless accepted the Chinese authorities’ arguments without conducting their own on-site investigation. In addition, the Chinese anti-doping agency, CHINADA, deviated from its own rules and did not publish the suspected cases. WADA did not object to this either. Later, WADA leadership claimed that due to the ongoing Covid pandemic, they had been unable to conduct an independent investigation on the ground in China. They also attempted to argue that the small concentrations of the banned heart medication trimetazidine found in the swimmers’ bodies ruled out intentional doping – a claim strongly doubted by many renowned scientists.”
The controversy continues, seemingly without end.
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