WADA statement on contamination cases in China

The latest story today in the U.S. media refers to cases of meat contamination involving two swimmers in China. In fact, this relates to a wider series of cases involving athletes from different sports (two swimmers, one shooter and one BMX rider), all of whom tested positive for trace amounts of a prohibited substance, metandienone, in late 2022 and early 2023, in different locations and at different times. Upon notification, the athletes were all immediately provisionally suspended, pending investigation and remained so until late 2023 when the investigation concluded. Therefore, in the case of the two swimmers, they were suspended for more than one year.

In relation to the swimmers, the samples were collected on 6 October 2022 and following analysis at the WADA-accredited laboratory in Beijing, were found to have trace amounts of the substance in their systems (in the pg/mL range, with 1pg being a trillionth of a gram). They were duly notified and provisionally suspended on 3 November 2022 with the view to asserting a four-year period of ineligibility before a Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) anti-doping tribunal. As the hearing was being prepared by CHINADA, athlete-commissioned testing of meat samples found a number of positive results for metandienone.

Then, in separate testing missions in early 2023, the shooter and BMX rider also tested positive for similarly low quantities of the same substance. These two athletes, neither of whom is competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, were also notified and provisionally suspended. This development led CHINADA to suspend proceedings against the two swimmers pending an investigation for possible contamination.

The investigation by CHINADA included the testing of hundreds of meat samples from various sources, with dozens revealing positive results for metandienone. CHINADA also analyzed the athletes’ nutritional supplements and conducted hair tests, which were negative. Significantly, both the swimmers provided negative doping control samples in the days before and after the single trace positive. Following its investigation, CHINADA concluded that the four cases were most likely linked to meat contamination and, in late 2023, closed the cases without asserting a violation, with the athletes having remained provisionally suspended throughout that time.

WADA and the relevant International Federations (including the Union Cycliste Internationale, the International Shooting Sport Federation and World Aquatics) all had the opportunity to review the cases and, if appropriate, take appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). WADA thoroughly reviewed the cases in early 2024 with all due skepticism, and concluded that there was no evidence to challenge contaminated meat as the source of the positive tests and therefore decided not to appeal to CAS. None of the various other Anti-Doping Organizations appealed either. As WADA has indicated previously, once there is no evidence to contest a no-fault contamination scenario, no Anti-Doping Organization has ever appealed a case to convert a finding of no violation into one of a violation with no fault.

However, off the back of these cases, WADA wanted to assess the circumstances, scale and risk of meat contamination with metandienone in China and other countries. As a result, WADA initiated an investigation in early 2024. That is being conducted by WADA’s independent Intelligence and Investigations Department and, given it is ongoing, WADA can make no further comment about that as WADA I&I goes where the evidence leads it.

The matter raises again the wider issue of contamination, in particular, food contamination, which WADA addressed in its statement of 14 June 2024. Based on the number of cases, clearly there is an issue of contamination in several countries around the world. WADA is generally concerned about the number of cases that are being closed without sanction when it is not possible to challenge the contamination theory successfully before CAS. There have been many cases of positive tests that were eventually closed without sanction as no-fault violations, sometimes with unusual methods of contamination. Apart from China, in particular, there have been several of these cases in the United States in the past few months alone, where highly intricate contamination scenarios were accepted. The ongoing review of the World Anti-Doping Code and International Standards will provide an opportunity to consider possible solutions to this ongoing issue for clean sport.

The politicization of anti-doping continues with this latest attempt by the media in the United States to imply wrongdoing on the part of WADA and the broader anti-doping community. As we have seen over recent months, WADA has been unfairly caught in the middle of geopolitical tensions between superpowers but has no mandate to participate in that.