Doping-World Aquatics did not mishandle Chinese doping cases, confirms audit

By Steve Keating

(Reuters) -A World Aquatics audit into the handling of positive drug tests by Chinese swimmers concluded there was no mismanagement or cover-up by the governing body while offering recommendations to restore athlete confidence in the anti-doping system.

The World Aquatics report reached a similar conclusion as Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier, who conducted an independent investigation into the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) handling of the case and also determined all protocols were followed without favouritism.

"The report concludes that there was no irregularity, mismanagement or cover‐up by FINA (as World Aquatics was known at the time) in its review of the TMZ (trimetazidine) case or in its decision not to appeal the CHINADA decisions in that case," said the World Aquatics review.

"The process and procedure followed by FINA in 2021 was in accordance with both the operating procedures of FINA at that time, generally accepted operating procedures of other International Federations, and its obligations under the World Anti‐Doping Code."

The two reports have done nothing to sway U.S. sporting and anti-doping officials who continued on Monday to demand a hearing and a more complete investigation into how the Chinese swimmers all tested positive for TMZ, a medication that increases blood flow to the heart, weeks ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

An investigation by China's anti-doping agency (CHINADA) determined the swimmers were inadvertently exposed to the drug through contamination and cleared to compete in the Tokyo Games.

Bill Bock, a U.S. member on the Anti-Doping Advisory Body of the World Aquatics Integrity Unit (ADAB) questioned why World Aquatics chose to appoint an ad hoc committee to review the Chinese matter rather than permit the ADAB to conduct that review.

"Critically, the ad hoc review committee could have recommended that World Aquatics immediately bring forward the 23 positive cases for a hearing so that the full consequences for positive drug tests under the World Anti-Doping Code could be imposed," said Bock in a letter responding to the audit.

"Therefore, I call upon World Aquatics and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to immediately bring forward these 23 TMZ cases as anti-doping rule violations."

Among the recommendations made in the audit were establishing time limits for national anti-doping agencies to impose provisional suspensions and ensuring all pending cases are resolved before World Aquatic competitions.

WADA said it would look at recommendations on how strengthen the anti-doping code and vindicated that the two came to the same result that the correct procedures were followed.

World Aquatics also noted in its report that in Olympic years athletes from certain nations and sports are tested four times by the International Testing Agency (ITA).

Chinese swimmers along with a number of other athletes will be tested no less than eight times.

Samples collected from Chinese athletes, when possible, will be carried out by an agency other than CHINADA and analysed in laboratories outside of China.

(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto, editing by Pritha Sarkar)