WADA Unanimously Approves Recommendations Based on Chinese Doping Investigation

At their meeting in December, the World Anti-Doping Administration Executive Committee unanimously approved the recommendations of the Working Group created based on Eric Cottier’s report from earlier this year that cleared WADA from wrongdoing regarding the Chinese doping scandal.

In April, news broke of 23 Chinese swimmers testing positive for performance enhancing drugs before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. WADA faced a lot of criticism for the way they handled the situation, but they remained firm that they did everything by the book and they agreed with China’s conclusion that the positive tests were the result of contamination rather than doping.

Later that month, WADA invited Swiss prosecutor Cottier to carry out an independent review of the way WADA handled the situation. He came back in July with a report stating that WADA handed the investigation appropriately and did not show any bias, agreeing with their determination that they would not win a case overturning China’s ruling in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Cottier released his full report in September which highlighted the fact that, while China did not follow all of WADA’s rules, the outcome would still have been the same regardless. He did outline a few areas where he felt WADA could improve their protocol to avoid future situations like this one.

In response, WADA created a Working Group to outline recommendations for the organization to follow that implemented the “issues” Cottier mentioned. At their December meeting, the Executive Committee approved these recommendations unanimously.

The recommendations have five primary sections:

• Results Management Filing System
  • Short Term: Create files for all cases that includes information regarding the case from open to close in a standard format- Dec 2024- Mar 2025
  • Long Term: Work on enhancing the automation of the file management database- Dec 2024-Jan 2027
• WADA Intelligence & Investigations (I&I) Department Triage and Prioritization Framework
  • Short Term: Complete process to send high-risk cases to Intelligence and Investigation department until there can be a triage and prioritization protocol- Dec 2024
  • Long Term: Create triage and prioritization protocol, primarily to ensure high-risk cases are identified and handled appropriately- Dec 2024- Sep 2025
• Alarm setup in WADA’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System [ADAMS] and Results Management Process Review
  • Short Term: Set up an interim alarm system in ADAMS to identify cases that seem out-of-the-ordinary- Dec 2024- Apr 2025
  • Long Term: Define triage and prioritization for high-risk cases across results management process to ensure cases are receiving proper attention- Dec 2024 to primary implementation March 2026
• World Anti-Doping Code Update Process Issues:
  • Establish Indpendent Review Expert: A new role for situations where an Anti-Doping Organization decides not to follow the typical results-management process. Developing a pilot project in 2025.
  • Notification Deadlines: The ADO must inform athletes of an “adverse finding” within 21 days of receiving the results.
  • Mandatory Provisional Suspension: ADOs must implement a mandatory provisional suspension within 10 days of notifying the athletes.
  • Suspension Appeal: If the ADO does not meet these deadlines, a suspension can be appealed in an expedited manner.
  • Public Disclosure: Further exploration on public disclosure of “No-Fault” and contamination cases.
• Out-of-competition Testing Independent from National Anti-Doping Organizations and Local Laboratories 
  • Establish a Working Group to analyze the issue of National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADO’s) maintaining operational independence due to perceived conflict of interest by athletes. The Group will work to assess solutions, including potential code reforms, and present their recommendations in December 2025.

The full document containing the Working Group recommendations can be read here.

At their meeting, they also approved their new five-year strategic plan and preliminary budgets for the upcoming years.

WADA will meet again in March of 2025 at their annual Symposium in Switzerland.