Doping: after US’ stance on China’s swimmers, IOC chief says ‘divide’ must end
Kirsty Coventry’s comments come 18 months after Wada was cleared of pro-China bias over the case of 23 Chinese swimmers
International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry and her World Anti-Doping Agency counterpart have called for unity in the fight against performance-enhancing drugs following a fracture with the United States.
“Too often we’ve seen energy spent on division, finger-pointing and competing agendas,” Coventry told Wada’s World Conference on Doping in Sport, being held this week in the South Korean city of Busan.
“It has been difficult to watch this divide within our community.”
Her comments on Tuesday came almost 18 months after an internal investigation cleared Wada of pro-China bias.
The agency was rocked by a scandal involving 23 Chinese swimmers who were cleared of intentionally doping after testing positive for a banned heart drug in 2021.
Chinese investigators absolved the swimmers – some of whom went on to win Olympic gold in Tokyo that year – of wrongdoing, saying that the athletes had been exposed to the drug via a contaminated hotel kitchen.