Olympics-CHINADA accuses USADA of double standards

PARIS (Reuters) - China's anti-doping agency (CHINADA) accused its American counterpart on Tuesday of 'hypocritical double standards' in response to the positive tests of Chinese athletes and U.S. sprinter Erriyon Knighton.

Travis Tygart, head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), has been outspoken about the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics but were allowed to compete.

The swimmers escaped punishment after an investigation by Chinese authorities ruled the adverse analytical findings were the result of unwitting food contamination.

World silver medallist Knighton tested for the banned substance trenbolone this year but was not suspended for the Paris Games after an arbitrator found the result was likely caused by contaminated meat.

"USADA has shown a typical double standard by trying its best to clear American athletes on one hand, but on the other hand accusing CHINADA and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) of 'covering up the truth'," CHINADA said in a statement on its website.

It said many suspicions about Knighton’s case remained unresolved, pointing out also that three American athletes had escaped sanctions in recent years by claiming food contamination.

CHINADA said the Knighton case showed USADA’s rhetoric about fairness and clean sport runs counter to its actual practices.

"The U.S. has turned a blind eye to its long history of doping problems, but is obsessed with 'cross-border jurisdiction' and asserting sanctions against other countries," it added.

"It seems that the accusation and attack on China and other countries is its tactic to deflect attention from the serious flaws in its own anti-doping work. This is sheer political manipulation and hypocritical double standards."

CHINADA accused the U.S. Congress, USADA and American media of adopting a selective approach and "confusing right and wrong through fabrication and frame-up".

"We urge USADA to cease fabricating false narratives, politicizing anti doping and manipulating public perception, to stop disrupting and undermining the well-functioning world anti-doping order and global governance system," it added.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers last month threatened to cut U.S. funding for world anti-doping agency WADA, accusing it of failing to properly investigate the case of the Chinese swimmers.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)