USA admits to bombshell doping tactics: Cheats who turn rat are hidden

The arrow-slinging between China and the USA over doping at the Olympics has exploded after a bombshell report exposed the Americans.

Erriyon Knighton has been dragged into the war of words. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

US anti-doping authorities have been slammed by the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) after it was revealed the Americans are allowing drug cheats to keep competing if they become informants.

WADA has revealed American athletes who took steroids and EPO were allowed to retire with their good names - and prize money - in tact in exchange for ratting out others.

USADA chief Travis Tygart has defended the tactic and despite WADA’s objections, the Americans want to keep using it.

“It’s an effective way to get at these bigger, systemic problems,” Tygart told Reuters. “If you’ve got agents or others who are preying on athletes and trafficking … I think it’s totally appropriate.”

China’s anti-doping agency has now called for an independent probe into its US counterpart, after the bombshell claims revealed the Americans had allowed several athletes who tested positive between 2011 and 2014 to go undercover.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said the strategy was “in direct contravention of the World Anti-Doping Code” and “threatened the integrity of sporting competition”.

“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,” it said in a statement.

“Within the Code there is a provision whereby an athlete who provides substantial assistance can subsequently apply to have a proportion of their period of ineligibility suspended.

“However, there is a clear process for that, which does not involve allowing those who have cheated to continue to compete while they may or may not gather incriminating evidence against others and while they could retain a performance-enhancement effect from the substances they took. When WADA eventually found out about this non-compliant practice in 2021, many years after it had started, it immediately instructed USADA to desist.

“WADA is now aware of at least three cases where athletes who had committed serious anti-doping rule violations were allowed to continue to compete for years while they acted as undercover agents for USADA, without it notifying WADA and without there being any provision allowing such a practice under the Code or USADA’s own rules.

“In one case, an elite level athlete, who competed at Olympic qualifier 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. Their case was never published, results never disqualified, prize money never returned, and no suspension ever served. The athlete was allowed to line up against their unknowing competitors as if they had never cheated.”

US Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP)

The China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) said Thursday that it “strongly calls for an independent investigation into USADA’s cover-up of serious violations” of the code designed to prevent athletes from taking illicit substances that improve performance.

“USADA’s practice … seriously damaged fair competition in sports and the rights and interests of clean athletes, and showed that its anti-doping work lacked transparency,” CHINADA said.

It added that the revelations showed the US exercised “double standards” in criticising alleged doping by other countries while “turning a blind eye” to its own issues.

Chinese and American sport authorities have traded barbs since a separate media investigation in April found 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but were still allowed to compete.

They were not punished because WADA accepted the argument of Chinese authorities that the positive results were caused by contaminated food.

The disclosures brought widespread criticism of WADA, particularly from the US, which infuriated China by accusing the global governing body of a cover-up.

CHINADA said in a separate statement earlier Thursday that US track and field athletes were plagued by “systemic” doping abuses.

Erriyon Knighton has been dragged into the war of words. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

It cited the case of American sprinter Erriyon Knighton, who tested positive for a banned substance in March but was cleared to compete in Paris after an independent arbitrator ruled that the result likely came from contaminated meat.

Knighton has qualified for Thursday’s Olympic 200m final in Paris. CHINADA called for more tests on American track and field athletes, alleging “deep-rooted stains in … US athletics and USADA’s repeated disregard for procedures and standards”.

CHINADA provided no evidence that American athletes currently at the Games had failed doping tests.

Tygart said the attack on Knighton showed China would use “misdirection and propaganda” to deflect from its own issues.

The US top the Olympics medals table with 27 golds, just ahead of China on 25. China named 11 of the swimmers implicated in the doping scandal in their Paris Olympics team. China’s swimmers finished with 12 medals - two gold, three silver and seven bronze.

CHINADA said in June that it would “never” agree to a US demand to release details of its investigation into the 23 swimmers.

- with AFP