WASHINGTON.- United States legislators (USA) called on FBI and the Department of Justice to investigate the cases of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive in anti-doping tests before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and were not sanctioned.
The letter, dated Tuesday, is signed by the president of the Commission on the Chinese Communist Party and demands the use of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Law in this case.
The law, signed into law in 2020 by then-President Donald Trump, allows sanctions for people involved in international doping fraud conspiracies and requires restitution to victims.
“This scandal raises serious legal, ethical and competitive issues, and may constitute a broader state strategy sponsored by the People’s Republic of China to compete unfairly in the Olympic Games in the same way that Russia did previously,” wrote Republican Congressman John Moolenaar.
“It is imperative to evaluate whether these alleged doping practices were state-sponsored, which could justify new diplomatic measures by the United States and the international community,” Moolenaar warned in the letter, also signed by a Democratic representative, Raja Krishnamoorthi.
The text includes journalistic references about the management of the case by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The body came under fire in April after it was revealed that Chinese swimmers had tested positive for trimetazidine – a heart drug banned since 2014 because it can improve blood circulation – ahead of the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Without justification for the US:
The athletes, some of whom competed and won medals at that Olympic event, were not suspended or sanctioned since WADA accepted the explanations of the Chinese authorities, which justified the positive results due to food contamination of which the swimmers were victims in a hotel.
WADA has rejected accusations of a cover-up made by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and China also denies any wrongdoing in the matter.
At the center of the controversy, WADA appointed an independent prosecutor to review its own handling of the case.
Source: AFP
