Drugs chiefs cleared of wrong doing over Chinese swimmers who failed tests, by own investigator
- Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier was appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate its handling of incident
An investigator appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) to investigate its handling of the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for banned substances has cleared the drugs body of any wrong doing.
Swiss prosecutor and lead investigator Eric Cottier found there was nothing in the file to suggest Wada in any way favoured the 23 swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), a medication that increases blood flow to the heart.
But his report brought a stinging response from athletes groups, while United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada), the global body’s fiercest critic, questioned how much Cottier had actually been able to investigate.
“This [report] is unsurprising since Wada itself hand-picked the investigator and set the extremely limited scope of the investigation, preventing a meaningful review,” Usada said.
“Given its cosy role in the creation of the investigation, the world also has to wonder if Wada was able to see and even sanitise the report before its release.”
The swimmers were previously cleared by a Chinese investigation which said they were inadvertently exposed to the drug through contamination. The report determined the swimmers were staying at a hotel where traces of TMZ were discovered in the kitchen.
