WADA welcomes World Aquatics report on Chinese swimming cases

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) welcomes the report published by the Anti-Doping Audit Review Committee of World Aquatics that investigated the 2021 contamination cases of 23 swimmers from China.

The Committee found no evidence of “irregularities, mismanagement or cover‐up”, but rather the process followed, and decisions made by World Aquatics in 2021 (then known as FINA), which were identical to those of WADA, were in accordance with the rules. WADA takes note of the recommendations made by the Committee, which includes a prominent Court of Arbitration for Sport arbitrator, and looks forward to assessing those as part of the Agency’s ongoing update process for the next iteration of the World Anti-Doping Code and International Standards.

A WADA spokesperson said: “Following on from the positive findings of an Independent Prosecutor’s review into WADA’s handling of these cases, this is a further report that details how the correct procedures were followed under the terms of the World Anti-Doping Code. WADA is pleased that another review has found no evidence of wrongdoing by the international anti-doping authorities as it relates to these cases. As always, we will look carefully at the Committee’s recommendations for how the applicable rules can be further strengthened and we will consider them as part of the ongoing Code and International Standards update.”