{"id":32888,"date":"2024-04-22T20:24:32","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T20:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/22\/top-biden-official-calls-for-inquiry-into-chinese-doping-case\/"},"modified":"2024-04-22T20:24:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T20:24:32","slug":"top-biden-official-calls-for-inquiry-into-chinese-doping-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/22\/top-biden-official-calls-for-inquiry-into-chinese-doping-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Biden Official Calls for Inquiry Into Chinese Doping Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/22\/multimedia\/22china-doping-wada-cljm\/22china-doping-wada-cljm-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Top Biden Official Calls for Inquiry Into Chinese Doping Case\" title=\"Top Biden Official Calls for Inquiry Into Chinese Doping Case\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Biden administration\u2019s top drug official called on Monday for an independent investigation into how Chinese and global antidoping authorities decided to clear 23 elite Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned drug months before the Summer Olympics in 2021.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The official, Rahul Gupta, who is the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said that he planned to bring up the handling of the positive tests during a two-day meeting of sports ministers in Washington. Top members of the World Anti-Doping Agency are scheduled to attend the event, which starts Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe United States stands by its commitment to ensure that every American athlete and those across the globe are provided a level playing field and a fair shot in international athletic competitions,\u201d Dr. Gupta said in response to questions from The New York Times. \u201cThere must be rigorous, independent investigations to look into any incident of potential wrongdoing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Gupta is a member of the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wada-ama.org\/en\/who-we-are\/governance\/executive-committee\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">WADA executive committee<\/a>, but he and his staff had not been briefed about the case involving the swimmers until Friday, according to a statement from his office. The next day, an investigation in The Times revealed the swimmers\u2019 positive tests for a banned heart drug, trimetazidine, or TMZ, and the response to them by national and global antidoping officials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The 23 Chinese swimmers were never suspended nor publicly identified before the Summer Olympics; at those Tokyo Games, they accounted for five medals, including three golds. The discovery that they had tested positive for TMZ but still competed prompted <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/21\/world\/asia\/chinese-swimmers-doping.html\" title=\"\">angry reactions<\/a> from Olympians who raced against some of them, and charges of a coverup from others in the antidoping movement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The call for an investigation from Dr. Gupta came as WADA held a video call with reporters to try to stem the fallout from the disclosure about the positive tests. In a virtual news conference that lasted nearly two hours, senior WADA officials and the organization\u2019s top legal official repeatedly defended the handling of the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf we had to do it over again now,\u201d the WADA president Witold Banka said, \u201cwe would do exactly the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, WADA acknowledged that its own protocols had not been followed in the case, confirming that, because of the pandemic, no hearings had been held with the affected swimmers to inquire about how the drug might have entered their systems. WADA said that it had decided not to appeal the Chinese decisions \u2014 including to not suspend the swimmers, as many antidoping experts said WADA should have \u2014 because the swimmers would have ultimately been cleared of any wrongdoing based on the available evidence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And WADA reaffirmed that its officials had accepted \u2014 without independent verification \u2014 the findings of investigators from China\u2019s state security services, who reported finding traces of the drug in a hotel kitchen but did not determine how it had gotten there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">To bolster their argument, WADA officials detailed what they said were extensive research and scientific reviews, including the engaging of trimetazidine\u2019s original manufacturer to obtain nonpublic information from the company about the drug\u2019s excretion periods \u2014 the time it takes to pass out of a human\u2019s system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, meanwhile, responded to a question about the positive tests <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fmprc.gov.cn\/mfa_eng\/xwfw_665399\/s2510_665401\/202404\/t20240422_11286243.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">at a news conference on Monday<\/a> by declaring the reporting \u201cfalse information and reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The statements by top government officials \u2014 Germany\u2019s sports minister has also called for an investigation after the public broadcaster ARD aired a documentary on the case \u2014 could make for an awkward two days of meetings this week in Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That event, the annual convening of the Americas Sports Council, known by its Spanish acronym, CADE, brings together representatives from more than 40 countries and guests from across sports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Among the officials scheduled to give presentations are Banka, the WADA president, and the organization\u2019s No. 3 official, Olivier Niggli.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">An email obtained by The Times shows that by April 2021 Niggli had been copied on an email about how the Chinese swimmers had tested positive. By that point, the Chinese had decided not to hold hearings or provisionally suspend the athletes, as antidoping experts have contended they should have.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The email \u2014 sent by an official<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>at the Chinese antidoping agency, Chinada \u2014 was addressed to WADA\u2019s director of legal affairs, Julien Sieveking. Mr. Niggli, who as director general serves as the agency\u2019s top administrator, was copied on it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As recently as March, Dr. Gupta spoke in glowing terms about WADA\u2019s work in reforming itself in the wake of state-sponsored doping by Russia. But he cautioned about the ongoing risk of bad actors trying to undermine the global antidoping system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe efforts to reform and improve how WADA operates must continue,\u201d Mr. Gupta said at an event hosted by the agency in Switzerland, after accepting an award on behalf of the public authorities \u2014 national governments \u2014 that contribute half of WADA\u2019s budget. The United States is the highest single payer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWADA must stay ahead of this evolving threat because so much is at stake: from national pride to a great deal of money for victors and the dream of children around the world,\u201d Dr. Gupta said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/22\/world\/asia\/doping-china-swimmers-olympics.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Biden administration\u2019s top drug official called on Monday for an independent investigation into how Chinese and global antidoping authorities decided to clear 23 elite Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned drug months before the Summer Olympics in 2021. The official, Rahul Gupta, who is the director of the Office of National Drug [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/22\/multimedia\/22china-doping-wada-cljm\/22china-doping-wada-cljm-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[45,1187,1287,3394,23371,6903,2008,1846],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32890,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32888\/revisions\/32890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}