The head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada), Travis Tygart, has called the situation a “potential cover-up” and called Thursday’s announcement of an independent investigation “self-serving.”
In a statement, Wada said it had asked former Swiss public prosecutor Eric Cottier to review its handling of the case.
“Wada’s integrity and reputation is under attack,” Witold Banka, the agency’s president, said. “In the past few days, Wada has been unfairly accused of serious bias in favour of China by not appealing the Chinada case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“We continue to reject the false accusations and we are pleased to be able to put these questions into the hands of an experienced, respected and independent prosecutor.”
Wada said Cottier would be given “full and unfettered” access to all its files and documents on the case and added he was free to consult any independent experts as he saw fit.
Cottier has been asked to evaluate if there was any bias shown towards China or “any undue interference or other impropriety” in the handling of the case.
The Swiss lawyer will also be asked to determine if the decision not to challenge or appeal against the verdict of Chinada, that the cases involved food contamination, was reasonable.
Cottier, who was attorney general of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland for 17 years before retiring in 2022 and had previously been a court judge, has been asked to deliver his findings in two months.
The team travelling to China would also include “independent auditors from the broader anti-doping community”.
Wada said the visit was part of its regular compliance monitoring programme.
“While not one shred of evidence has been presented to support any of the allegations made against Wada, we wish to deal with the matter as quickly and as comprehensively as possible so that the matter is appropriately handled in advance of the upcoming Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Olivier Niggli, Wada’s director general, said.
The agency said it had received requests for the review from a “small number of its stakeholders” and any decisions had been backed by its executive committee.
Usada said that the world agency’s latest statement “exemplifies the problem with the current system”.
“By calling this an ‘independent’ investigation, Wada leadership is trying to pull the wool over our eyes,” the US group said. “Instead of Wada’s hand-picked lawyer with a limited and self-serving scope of review, the world’s athletes deserve a truly independent review commission with a wide scope of review that is constituted with an independent athlete representative and impartial respected jurists with anti-doping experience appointed by government consensus.”
