Erriyon Knighton of US wins his heat in the men's 200m Round 1 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on August 5, 2024. Photo: IC

China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) on Thursday called to intensify testing on US athletics and rebuild global trust in fair play after US Olympic sprinting star Erriyon Knighton tested positive for banned steroid trenbolone during an out-of-competition test in March 2024, which also brought other doping scandals in track and field in the US to the public spotlight.

CHINADA said it noticed that the specifics of the Knighton's positive test have been widely reported by media at home and abroad, following which the United Stated Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) made a public statement on the case.

However, there are still a number of question marks surrounding the case. One example is that the USADA CEO said blatantly that "trenbolone is a well-known livestock enhancer in the US and other parts of the world."

Now that hundreds of positive tests for trenbolone have taken place in recent years worldwide, why is it that only a very small number of US athletes have escaped sanctions based on USADA's investigation findings and claims of meat contamination? Why hasn't USADA ever warned American athletes about the risk of contamination of trenbolone in meat? asked the CHINADA.

If trenbolone is indeed a common contaminant in the US, CHINADA would like to remind athletes from all over the world, including American athletes, to pay close attention to the meat contamination problem in the country when training and competing there, to strengthen doping risk prevention measures, and to eat meat products with caution. Otherwise, as the American swimmer Michael Phelps—under the wing of USADA—suggested in a recent interview, "if you test positive, you should never be allowed to come back and compete again, cut and dry."

In addition, the fact that Knighton was unilaterally exonerated by USADA also reflects another concern: doping scandals have been too frequently seen on US athletics, and USADA's handling of these doping case has been inconsistent and questionable, said CHINADA.

According to public available information, Carl Lewis, the nine-time US Olympic gold medalist, once acknowledged that despite testing positive three times before the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he was eventually "let off the hook" and represented the US in Seoul. The Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin, who failed two doping tests and should have been banned for life according to relevant rules, was finally given a four-year period of ineligibility after USADA's exculpatory efforts.

In 2003, a shocking doping scandal that hit the sports world exploded from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) in San Francisco, whose founder Conte provided a list of professional athletes buying their performance-enhancing drugs, including Marion Jones, the women's 100-meter sprinting giant, Tim Montgomery, former world record holder for men's 100-meter, Gatlin as mentioned above, and many other world champions in athletics.

The BALCO scandal has triggered widespread concerns from the international community about doping in the US sports field.

Gil Roberts, once part of the US 4x400 relay team that won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was cleared by USADA in 2017 by claiming that his positive test was caused by kissing of his girlfriend. However, Roberts was found to have taken a banned substance again in 2022 and was given a 16-month ineligibility. Just eight months after his return in 2023, Roberts was again given an eight-year eligibility for a failing test.

It is also worth noting that this April, the American track and field athlete Aldrich Bailey tested positive for ostarine, an androgen receptor modulator, during an out-of-competition test. It was then decided by USADA that the positive test was due to contaminated neoprene hamstring sleeves used by the athletes. However, ostarine is not a common contaminant, as facts show.

Given the deep-rooted stains in the US athletics and USADA's repeated disregard for procedures and standards, there is reason to suspect that there is a systemic doping problem in track and field in the US and the positive cases therein deserve continuous investigation and attention, CHINADA noted.

As pointed out by the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Witold Bańka, data collected in project involving law enforcement agencies and National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) in Europe revealed that the US is one of the world's largest markets for illicit steroids and performance-enhancing drugs.

Also pointed out by WADA in a recent statement, 31 percent of American athletes were not sufficiently tested in the 12 month-period prior to the Tokyo Games.

In light of the above, CHINADA strongly called on the International Testing Agency (ITA) to intensify testing on the US track and field athletes and recommend that the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) strengthen anti-doping supervision of the US track and field, prevent the doping risks and strictly investigate relevant cases, in an endeavor to truly protect the legitimate rights and interests of the cleans athletes around the world, and to rebuild the trust of global athletes in fair play.

Global Times