Lawyer says Chinese doping case handled ‘reasonably’ but calls WADA’s lack of action “curious”

AP National Writer

An investigator gave the World Anti-Doping Agency a pass on its handling of the case involving Chinese swimmers, but not without hammering away at the nature of WADA’s “silence” after examining a case that did not follow rules designed to safeguard global sports. WADA released the decision from the Swiss investigator it appointed to analyze its handling of the case involving the 23 Chinese swimmers who remained eligible despite testing positive for performance enhancers in 2021. Echoing wording from an interim report issued earlier this summer, The investigator said it was “reasonable” that WADA chose not to appeal the Chinese anti-doping agency’s explanation that the positives came from contamination and questioned WADA for disregarding some of China’s violations of anti-doping protocols.