Bach's latest response to the US doping issue

On August 9, 2024 local time, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, held a press conference, summarizing the success of the Paris Olympics and emphasizing the importance of protecting the rights of clean athletes for the future Olympic Games held in the United States - the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics and the 2034 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. At the press conference, when reporters asked Bach about the US anti-doping related bill being independent of the World Anti-Doping Framework and potentially posing a threat to clean athletes, Bach clearly stated: The key to this issue lies in respecting the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Bach pointed out that the IOC has always called on all parties to respect the authority of WADA, and the IOC has entrusted anti-doping work to the International Testing Agency (ITA) and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Bach said that the IOC has full trust in the work of WADA and expects all relevant parties to reach an agreement through dialogue to ensure that global athletes can compete in a fair environment and be treated fairly. This statement further clarified the IOC's position on anti-doping work, that is, maintaining the authority and unity of WADA, while ensuring that all athletes participating in the Olympics can compete fairly without discrimination.

Previously, on June 13, 2024, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), through media such as The New York Times, made a big fuss about the event of 23 Chinese swimmers being contaminated with trimetazidine (a stimulant) without fault. The head of USADA, Travis Tygart, took the lead in challenging WADA, groundlessly claiming that "China will use a large amount of doping at the Olympics". He publicly stated in several media that "China's own national anti-doping agency does not abide by the same standards.... The World Anti-Doping Agency effectively covered it up". The US Department of Justice even openly stated in July that it would invoke the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act to investigate the so-called "Chinese swimming incident" and ignored the doubts of WADA.

However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) issued a statement on August 8, pointing out that the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) violated the rules, drawing the world's attention: When facing the issue of doping in its own country, why does the US "long arm" become a "short arm" in seconds. WADA learned that in at least three serious doping violation cases, athletes were not banned from competition on the condition of being insiders, and USADA did not notify WADA either. One of the athletes admitted to using steroids and EPO (***), but was still allowed to compete until retirement. USADA blatantly argued that "any act of announcing consequences or disqualifying would endanger the athlete's safety" and repeated the old tune of "investigating Chinese athletes".