Documents Reveal WADA Lost Access to Over 2,000 Cases Due to Computer Glitch Before Olympics

According to documents obtained by the New York Times, officials at the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) were notified of a computer glitch that caused the organization to lose access to over 2,000 cases just weeks before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The information was originally presented by WADA lawyers at a meeting in late May, in which WADA officials were warned that the organization had also lost access to over 900 test results from athletes facing active doping allegations. As a result, the lawyers pointed out that the organization had lost the ability to accurately track the cases of athletes who would be competing in Paris. 

According to the report, none of this information had previously been made available to anyone outside of the WADA’s top officials, with the information even being withheld from members of the WADA executive board composed of athletes, coaches, and representatives from around the world, furthering the implications that it might have for the organization. 

This new data comes at a time when the WADA is already facing intense backlash from sporting and governmental organizations worldwide. Back in early April, it was reported that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned substance TMZ at a national team training camp just a few months shy of the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. Despite the positive tests, the WADA cleared all the swimmers involved of any wrongdoing and allowed them to compete in Tokyo, with the news not surfacing until this year. The cases coming to light just before Paris raised serious concerns about the integrity of the organization, with the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) blasting the organization on several occasions and the US government threatening to pull funding from the WADA. However, an independent prosecutor cleared the WADA of any wrongdoing or bias in the case.

Despite WADA’s computer glitch, the International Testing Agency (ITA) recently released its testing numbers from Paris, showing a 4% increase in doping tests administered compared to Tokyo with over 4,100 athletes tested. Of those tests, only five returned positive results, with none of the tests coming in any of the aquatic disciplines. 

 

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antidopingnerd
10 days ago

THIS is exactly why USADA maintains their own database called “Simon”. Due to fear of WADA pulling something like this, USADA has been logging tracking all anti-doping tests for 15+ years in their own database AND in WADA’s database called “ADAMS”. Double-entry of all tests results to ensure data isn’t corrupted, lost, or manipulated.

FST
10 days ago

of course they did…

Noah Fence
10 days ago

This inspires confidence

tea rex
11 days ago

Database engineer here.
One tiny mitigating factor – this includes some highly sensitive, personally identifiable information that you don’t just want to replicate willy-nilly. There are good reasons to keep a drug test serial number encrypted and traceable to an athlete / test only for approved users, and anonymous for everyone else. Sounds like they royally screwed up, but it’s not a simple build.

Now for the criticism:
That is why you keep the old system running until you know dang well certain the new system is rock-solid. Rule of thumb, I’d keep an obsolete database up to date for at least a year before turning it off, just in case there are problems with the new one.… Read more »

Last edited 11 days ago by tea rex
ROPES
11 days ago

Convenient!

Grant House anti-fan club
11 days ago

Boy, I sure am glad WADA is regularly held accountable for screwing up as often as they do. It sure would be unfortunate if their incompetence was met with a steady stream of revenue that kept the organization afloat, regardless of how poorly they achieve their purpose.

MIKE IN DALLAS
11 days ago

OK, FRIENDS!
Now you know WHY the DOJ is interested in giving a subpoena to any official of WADA and any affiliated organizations who shows up in the USA for matters dealing with LA 2028! Their entire operation is compromised and possibly violates US statutes re: doping / reporting / punishments. NOW, we know why “veiled threats” have been given to LA 2028 Organizing Committee to “make this problem go away”! Surprise, it is even worse than we thought! Paris was riddled with cheating BUT we can’t prove it because our computers didn’t work! What the heck!

Swimdad
Reply to  MIKE IN DALLAS
11 days ago

Yup, computers didn’t work and we kept no backups. Nice one CHINADA… oops I mean WADA.

Jeff
Reply to  Swimdad
10 days ago

Maybe even more US athletes given permission to cheat and spy. Sounds too convenient to me.

alex
Reply to  Jeff
10 days ago

isn’t that corrupt?

Last edited 10 days ago by alex
Hswimmer
11 days ago

Not surprised

About Nicole Miller

Nicole Miller

Nicole has been with SwimSwam since April 2020, as both a reporter and social media contributor. Prior to joining the SwimSwam platform, Nicole also managed a successful Instagram platform, amassing over 20,000 followers. Currently, Nicole is pursuing her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. After competing for the swim …

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