The Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) has expressed strong criticism towards the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) regarding the handling of sprinter Erriyon Knighton's doping case. CHINADA alleges that the U.S. is applying a double standard in its anti-doping enforcement.
Erriyon Knighton, a member of the U.S. Olympic track and field team, tested positive for the banned steroid trenbolone during an out-of-competition test on March 26. Despite the positive result, USADA decided not to impose any penalties on Knighton, attributing the positive test to contaminated meat. Consequently, Knighton was permitted to compete in the Paris Olympics qualifiers.
In a statement, CHINADA highlighted, \"Hundreds of Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) cases for trenbolone have occurred around the world in recent years, and publicly available information shows that while the athletes involved in most of these trenbolone AAF cases were essentially given a four-year ineligibility, three American athletes have escaped sanctions by claiming food contamination.\"
An independent arbitrator confirmed that the contaminated meat in Knighton's case originated from a Florida restaurant. However, studies indicate that trenbolone is a potent anabolic agent and not a common contaminant.
CHINADA raised several questions, including: \"If there is indeed widespread beef contamination of trenbolone in the U.S. market, has USADA ever conducted extensive market research and collected data? Has it warned the American athletes about the problem of meat contamination? Has it studied how much-contaminated meat can cause a positive test?\"
USADA had publicly declared that \"justice was served\" before the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had reviewed the case and before the deadline for appeals had expired. CHINADA finds this premature declaration suspicious, noting that USADA has since removed the statement from its website, along with previous communications regarding no-fault contamination cases, prompting further questions about USADA's transparency.
Reference(s):
China Condemns U.S. for Double Standard in Knighton Doping Case
cgtn.com
