“It is the right of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and every International Federation (IF) to review and determine whether to appeal a national level case involving an athlete in the IF’s sport. This is an example of the system at work as required by the rules.
In this case, USADA did exactly what the rules demand: When Knighton tested positive for a low level of trenbolone during an out-of-competition test, we provisionally suspended him, tested his B sample, and charged him with a potential anti-doping rule violation. We expedited the case to an independent arbitrator who heard all the evidence and determined that Knighton was without fault for the violation due to the evidence linking the meat he ate at a restaurant to the prohibited substance and given his testing history. Both AIU and WADA observed the hearing. The arbitrator’s decision was publicly announced, and in line with the mandatory rules on transparency, we published both the operative award and the full reasoned decision as soon as they were made available.
The handling of this case by USADA in accordance with the rules is in stark contrast to how China and WADA handled the 23 TMZ positives and the recently exposed two steroid positives for metandienone. In the TMZ cases, WADA allowed China not to notify the athletes of the positive tests; neither China nor WADA enforced the mandatory provisional suspension rules; athletes were not able to have their B samples analyzed; and both WADA and China failed to find the source of the TMZ that they want the world to believe magically appeared in the kitchen. TMZ is a controlled drug not found in food, the environment, the atmosphere, or hotel kitchens. Most importantly, WADA allowed China to sweep these cases under the rug and not announce them even though the mandatory rules require, without exception for contamination cases, that violations be found and that they be published. Transparency is the backbone of the global anti-doping system, and WADA turned a blind eye toward it.
We understand the AIU’s reasons for appealing this case, as we assume they are the same reasons for which we charged and prosecuted the case. The real issue in this case is WADA’s bad rule. Trenbolone, the substance in Knighton’s case, is a known livestock enhancer and known to be found in the meat supply. The level in the athlete’s sample was below 1ng/ml, and the meat he ate was proven to be from the same supplier of meat at the restaurant that was later analyzed and tested positive for trenbolone. We have advocated for the rules around contamination to formally change for years, and WADA has refused to act swiftly. But the world now knows WADA has secretly changed the rules for certain athletes and countries, as seen in the 23 TMZ and two metandienone Chinese cases.”
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