A number of top international swimmers are considering filing a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit against the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which allowed Chinese athletes who tested positive to compete in the Tokyo Olympics. The newspaper reported this on April 25 The Times.
According to the publication, the swimmers are negotiating with lawyers and leading sports managers. They have already secured financial support in case a class action lawsuit is filed.
In turn, the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency established during its own investigation that traces of the banned drug trimetazidine were found on the table in the hotel where the sports delegation was staying.
Earlier, on April 20, The New York Times, together with the German television company ARD, based on the results of investigations, reported that a group of 23 Chinese swimmers were caught doping and were allowed to participate in the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. As noted, in January of the same year, the banned drug trimetazidine was found in athletes’ samples. It was because of him that Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified.
WADA General Counsel Ross Wenzel said on April 22 that the situations with positive tests for trimetazidine in Valieva and the Chinese swimmers are not comparable because the figure skater had a significantly higher concentration of this substance, and also due to the lack of facts proving that the drug got into organism without her intention.
On the same day, Honored Master of Sports of the Russian Federation, Olympic champion in speed skating and deputy Svetlana Zhurova, in a conversation with Izvestia, called WADA’s attitude towards Valieva and Chinese swimmers “double standards.” The agency’s persecution of the figure skater was planned in such a way as to take away the medal from Russia. This drug, according to Zhurova, was also found in other athletes.
At the end of January, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found Valieva guilty of violating anti-doping rules. For using trimetazidine, the skater was disqualified for four years, and her results from December 25, 2021 were canceled. The International Skating Union (ISU) has revised the results of the team figure skating competition at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, and Russia has dropped from first place to third.
Later, in February, CAS registered appeals against the ISU's decision to redistribute the results. They were submitted by Canadian sports organizations, which demanded that their athletes be moved to third place in the medal standings. In response, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) demanded that Russia return first place.
#Times #learned #swimmers #preparing #lawsuit #WADA #admitting #Chinese #Olympic #Games