I wrote a
few days ago that WADA was in open warfare with USADA, but a lot of folk seemed to prefer a narrative whereby international organs like WADA, CAS, ITA, IOC, etc. are conspiring to suppress China's greatness by any means possible.
My view was (and remains) that these are imperfect organizations navigating complex issues in a highly charged political environment.
There is a war going on and it is not between China and the west, but between Washington and the European-dominated institutions of international sport, in large part because they have not been sufficiently cooperative in demonising and excluding China. As with all international institutions, if Washington does not control them then it wishes to bypass, undermine, delegitimize or destroy them. The Europeans may have no great love for China either, but they do enjoy money and prestige and dislike being told what to do. WADA, IOC etc. are trying to hold the system together while Washington is attempting to tear it apart. The foolish decision to award the 2028 Olympic games to the USA looms as a potential crisis in the making, with Washington asserting an extraterritorial right to arrest anyone they please in the course of investigating doping allegations wherever they are alleged to have occurred.
Undoubtedly part of the WADA/IOC/etc. response to Washington's offensive has been to accommodate their concerns to a significant degree, such as in relation to testing of Chinese athletes. But more recently we are seeing these institutions also on the offensive: the IOC threatening to terminate the USA's hosting of the 2034 Winter Olympics, and now these mysterious disclosures and public comment from WADA. My only misgiving about all this is that the best line that WADA, CHINADA, etc. have against Washington's onslaught is their reputation as professional, technical, apolitical organizations.
Someone needs to do the dirty work of pushing back against Washington's political campaign, but I don't think that it should be WADA or CHINADA themselves.
None of the above is to suggest that Beijing should remain silent in the face of unfair treatment. Where issues exist, they should be raised both publicly and publicly. But taking China out of an admittedly imperfect system, as some here have suggested, is precisely what Washington wants.
