The president of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach has “full confidence in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)”, under fire from criticism since the revelation of the positive tests of 23 Chinese swimmers in 2021, he indicated Friday in a exclusive interview with AFP.
“We have full confidence in WADA and its rules, and WADA has followed its rules,” assured Mr. Bach during an interview at the headquarters of the Olympic body in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Half funded by the IOC, the global anti-doping watchdog had to appoint an independent prosecutor on Thursday to assess its management of these positive tests, revealed five days earlier by the New York Times and the German channel ARD.
In early 2021, 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication banned since 2014 on the grounds that it can improve blood circulation. But they were neither suspended nor sanctioned before the Tokyo Olympics, the WADA having accepted the thesis of the Chinese authorities according to which they were victims of food contamination in their hotel.
Thomas Bach discovered the affair “through the media”, he explained to AFP. But the IOC has since been “informed by WADA of the procedures that the agency followed” – notably consisting of assessing the likelihood of contamination using scientific information on trimetazidine – and is now awaiting the conclusions of the independent investigation.
For the head of the Olympics, “there is no reason” that the swimmers concerned should not be at the Paris Olympics. “It is not possible for you to simply make an accusation against an athlete without it being supported by the competent authorities – in this case, WADA,” recalled the Bavarian lawyer.
