04/25/24 12:43:00
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04/25 12:42 CDT Anti-doping watchdog asks Swiss prosecutor to review its
handling of Chinese Olympic swimming case
Anti-doping watchdog asks Swiss prosecutor to review its handling of Chinese
Olympic swimming case
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
AP Sports Writer
GENEVA (AP) --- Heavily criticized for its secretive oversight of positive
tests by 23 Chinese swimmers before the Tokyo Olympics, the World Anti-Doping
Agency on Thursday appointed a veteran Swiss prosecutor to review how it
handled the cases.
The Montreal-based doping watchdog said Eric Cottier will be an independent
prosecutor "to conduct a thorough review of WADA's handling of the matter."
Cottier was attorney general of Vaud --- the home canton (state) of the
International Olympic Committee and swimming's governing body World Aquatics
--- for 17 years until his retirement in December 2022.
The prosecutor is expected to deliver a report, WADA said, "within two months"
--- just weeks before the opening of the Paris Olympics where some of the same
Chinese swimmers could compete.
Three of the 23 swimmers later won gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics where
American and British swimmers took the silver medals. The Games were held in
2021.
It was unclear if Cottier will travel to China to question people involved in
the 2021 investigation.
Cottier's report will go to the executive committee of WADA. Its vice president
Yang Yang is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in speed skating from China and a
former IOC member.
Investigations by the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD published over
the weekend detailed how top swimmers from China tested positive for the same
banned heart medication in January 2021 at a national meet about seven months
before the Tokyo Games.
Chinese state authorities later explained to WADA it found evidence weeks after
of contamination, including in spice containers, in the kitchen of a hotel
where the swimmers stayed. It is still unclear how traces of the medication
trimetazidine (TMZ) got into the kitchen.
WADA accepted the explanation and the Chinese anti-doping agency rulings that
the swimmers were not to blame in 2021 when its own investigators could not
travel to China during a lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The swimmers never served provisional suspensions during the investigation and
their positive tests were never made public until the past week.
The Times and ARD revelations have angered athletes, swim federations and
anti-doping officials worldwide who suspect favorable treatment for China,
which has paid WADA almost $2 million in extra funding in recent years.
Throughout 2021, China was working closely with the IOC on the challenging
preparations to host the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February 2022. They were
successfully staged in lockdown conditions.
WADA leaders insisted at a 90-minute news conference Monday they had followed
their rules and due process in world sports.
"WADA's integrity and reputation is under attack," its president Witold Ba?ka,
a former 400-meter runner from Poland, said Thursday in a statement.
Banka said WADA was "unfairly accused of bias in favor of China" by not
appealing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne to challenge
decisions that cleared the swimmers.
The agency said Cottier "will be granted full and unfettered access to all of
WADA's files and documents related to this matter and will be free to consult
with any independent experts as he sees fit."
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