By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
The ongoing rift between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) continues this week as the global anti-doping authority responded to claims made by USADA CEO Travis Tygart at a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing last week.
Tygart told senators that the Chinese swimmers who tested positive for Trimetazidine (TMZ) in 2021 would have had to eat around 11 pounds of food to test for the amounts of TMZ they did.
“It’s unbelievable to think that Tinkerbell just showed up and sprinkled it all over the kitchen,” Tygart said in the Senate hearing, according to The Associated Press.
USADA scientists reportedly analyzed data from a report commissioned by WADA to come up with the amount of food (11 lbs/5 kilograms) or liquid (4.9 liters) the athletes would have had to consume to test positive at the levels they did.
On Monday, WADA released a statement to Russian state-sponsored media agency TASS disputing Tygart’s claims.
“Mr. Tygart’s statement is not based on science or facts. It appears to have been made simply to support his pre-conceived narrative,” WADA said, according to TASS. “The fact is that the traces of trimetazidine found in the athletes’ samples are consistent with the consumption of contaminated food or liquid. All scientific experts involved in the review of the circumstances of this case agreed with this.
“By presenting his sensational speculations as facts, Mr. Tygart misled the Senate subcommittee and the public. It is unfortunate that some media outlets have disseminated them without questioning their veracity.”
After the 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for TMZ in early 2021, Chinese authorities ruled that the positive tests came from food contamination in the hotel where they were staying during a training camp.
WADA accepted that explanation, and the positive tests never became public until April 2024.
Tygart has been at the forefront of the ongoing saga between USADA and WADA, which led to the U.S. White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) withholding its annual $3.6 million payment to WADA.
WADA President Witold Banka had a public back-and-forth with Tygart last year, calling him out for hypocrisy and trying to politicize anti-doping in the United States.
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