On September 12, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) released to the world the full report presented by the Independent Prosecutor, Mr. Eric Cottier, on the no-fault contamination cases involving 23 Chinese swimmers. This final report, making it clear that the athletes’ positive results for trimetazidine (TMZ) were a group contamination case, finds no indication of favoritism or complacency of WADA when it reviewed China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA)’s decision to close the proceedings without further action, detects no evidence of any interference with WADA’s review, whether internal or external to it, from any entity or institution, including CHINADA or Chinese authorities, and reveals no irregularity on the part of WADA in its review of CHINADA’s decision. The report also points out that, in the context of the COVID-19 Pandemic, CHINADA had carried out investigation to the best of its ability, and had been collaborative, open and transparent in its active communication with both WADA and FINA (now known as the World Aquatics). Therefore, all internal and external elements prove that the decision by WADA not to challenge on appeal the contamination scenario put forward by CHINADA is reasonable, both in terms of the facts and the applicable rules.

The Independent Prosecutor’s final report once again shows the reasonableness of CHINADA’s investigation into and decision on the cases, and proves there is no such thing as a “cover-up” in the cases as deliberately fabricated and unfoundedly accused by certain organizations and media outlets like the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD. Meanwhile, the full report also demonstrates that the existing anti-doping system is open, transparent and trustworthy to the athletes worldwide.

Despite the indisputable fact that the objectivity and authenticity in the investigation, handling and decision of the cases have been vindicated by various parties including WADA, FINA and the Independent Prosecutor, we have noticed that a few organizations and media outlets including USADA and the New York Times have still been singing the same old tune and rehashing the false claims, attempting to stoke conflicts and confrontation by repeating the narrative of their conspiracy theories. Such accusations are just like “if they want to blame others, they will always find excuses to justify their acts”, which fully reveal that they have never faced up to the investigated facts in the TMZ contamination cases. Plain and simple, they are becoming the disrupter, saboteur and destroyer of the global anti-doping governance.

USADA, based on political motives and anti-China bias, has confused right and wrong and incited prejudice through fabrication and frame-up, misleading the international community and the general public in their perception of the no-fault TMZ contamination case. Moreover, in disregard of the basic factual findings by the Independent Prosecutor in his report, USADA instigated the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to initiate a “long-arm jurisdiction” over this case by opening an investigation through the “jurisdiction” granted by the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act. Such a “double standard” behavior of attempting to overstep the boundaries of jurisdiction over other countries while turning a blind eye to its long history of doping problems has aroused widespread concern in the international community.

In July this year, anti-doping organizations (ADOs) from 32 European, African and Asian countries wrote to WADA expressing their deep concern over the U.S. athletes who have been participating in major events such as the Olympic Games and World Championships without adequate testing, which clearly shows the doubts from the global sports community about the sports integrity of the United States and cleanness of the Olympic gold medals won by the American athletes. Recently, a WADA letter has been sent to USADA, calling for “root and branch” reforms of the anti-doping system within the country. As WADA highlights, 90 percent of the athletes in the United States compete outside the jurisdiction of the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) , specifically those in professional leagues and college sports. In 2023, USADA collected just 7,773 samples from 3,011 athletes, far lower than in countries such as France, China, Great Britain, Russia and Italy. In addition, USADA allowed athletes who had committed anti-doping rule violations to keep on participating in the competitions, winning medals and receiving prizes in the pretext of collecting intelligence, which is a serious violation of the Code and International Standards. Moreover, the U.S. is a huge market for the sale and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs, indicating that there is a serious problem of doping abuse in American sports. However, it is extremely disgusting that despite its own lack of anti-doping efforts, USADA is attempting to convince American athletes that their foreign counterparts are dishonest and unclean. We therefore strongly support WADA’s decision that USADA should immediately initiate a sweeping reform within itself to regain trust in its work from the international community.

We have also noticed the “purple faces” of the American swimmers during the swimming competitions of the Paris Olympic Games that no athletes from other countries had. There have been various speculations and doubts about the purple faces from media worldwide, such as the use of some prohibited substances that are difficult to detect at present (ITPP for example), which we found not unreasonable. We therefore strongly call on relevant ADOs to follow up these American swimmers for target testing. To clear up the public doubts, we also call for long-term storage of the samples collected during Paris 2024, more research on targeted detection methods, and further analysis of these athletes’ samples or reanalysis of the samples when new detection methods are available.

The final report by the Swiss Independent Prosecutor provides useful advice and suggestions on how to improve the world anti-doping system, especially in dealing with contamination cases. As WADA states in a recent statement, these TMZ contamination cases reflect the inherent difficulty faced by ADOs in dealing with cases of group contamination according to applicable anti-doping rules. Now as the revision of the Code is in the process, CHINADA would provide cooperation in implementing the working suggestions put forward by WADA’s Executive Committee, and actively participate in the code review program from our part to improve the standards for handling contamination issues and work for clearer guidelines for ADOs to defend the level-playing field where athletes who have inadvertently ingested prohibited substances due to food or environmental contamination are equally treated and the real dopers are duly sanctioned. We sincerely hope to work with all stakeholders for a stable, collaborative and advanced global anti-doping system.