The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has released a statement questioning the integrity of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), accusing it of allowing athletes who had doped to compete for years, in direct violation of the World Anti-Doping Code and USADA’s own rules.
“This USADA scheme threatened the integrity of sporting competitions, which the Code seeks to protect,” the statement read. “Contrary to the claims made by USADA, WADA did not sign off on this practice of permitting drug cheats to compete for years on the promise that they would try to obtain incriminating evidence against others.”
WADA reported finding at least three cases where athletes who had committed serious anti-doping rule violations were allowed to continue competing while they acted as undercover agents for USADA, without notifying WADA.
“In one case, an elite-level athlete, who competed at Olympic qualifiers and international events in the United States, admitted to taking steroids and EPO, yet was permitted to continue competing all the way up to retirement,” the statement detailed. “Their case was never published, results never disqualified, prize money never returned, and no suspension ever served.”
WADA did not disclose the names of the athletes involved, citing security concerns in case they faced retaliation.
The agency called it “ironic and hypocritical” that USADA suspected other doping organizations while allowing athletes who violated anti-doping rules to continue competing on the chance they might help catch other violators.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
