Swimming: Chinese agency Chinada undertakes to “cooperate” with the audit of the Global Anti-Doping Agenda

The Chinese agency Chinada pledged on Friday to “actively cooperate” with the audit announced the day before by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), in response to criticism of its management of the file of the 23 Chinese swimmers not sanctioned in 2021 despite their positive tests.

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“Chinada will actively cooperate in the upcoming WADA audit, and will provide assistance when necessary,” said in a press release the Chinese anti-doping agency which, a few months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, had concluded to food contamination of its athletes.

The Chinese agency “will work in favor of the rights and in the interests of clean athletes and for integrity in sport”, it is still written. Implicated, in particular by the American agency Usada in this affair, the WADA announced on Thursday the launch “shortly” of a compliance audit in China with the mission of “evaluating the current state (of the) program anti-doping” in this country.

She also announced the appointment of an independent prosecutor, the Swiss Éric Cottier, responsible for examining her management of the case at the material time. Three months before the Paris Games (July 26-August 11), the German channel ARD and the New York Times published an investigation last week in which they revealed that 23 of the best Chinese swimmers tested positive at the start of 2021 in trimetazidine, without being sanctioned, even temporarily.

Of these 23 swimmers, 13 participated in the Tokyo Olympics immediately, and three even won gold: Zhang Yufei (200m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle), Wang Shun (200m medley) and Yang Junxuan ( 4x200 m freestyle). Meanwhile, in March 2021, a Chinada report concluded that there was food contamination.