The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, adopted by the United States in 2020, represents a "pathetic" attempt to use the country's political influence in matters beyond its jurisdiction, said Alex Pussieldi, a swimming analyst, voicing unease over increased scrutiny of Chinese athletes during anti-doping tests at the Paris Olympic Games.
Anti-doping organizations tested each Chinese swimmer an average of 21 times since January 1. The number was significantly higher compared to the average of six times for American and four times for Australian swimmers, World Aquatics revealed on July 23.
Earlier this summer, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revealed that it had previously investigated doping cases related to food contamination. Although media attention has hounded on Chinese athletes, some of the cases also involved US athletes, including sprinter Erriyon Knighton.
Knighton, a U.S. Olympic track and field team member, tested positive for the banned steroid trenbolone during an out-of-competition test on March 26. The United States Anti-Doping Agency decided not to impose any ineligibility on Knighton, claiming the positive result was due to contaminated meat. Knighton was allowed to compete in the Paris Olympics qualifiers.
According to Pussieldi, there lingers a strong possibility that more suspected doping cases that have not been made public.
"We probably have way more other cases that we would not ever hear because the national anti-dope agencies, by law, they are not mandated to release their cases and their names. The international media forgets completely the other cases and focuses only on Chinese. It's unfair," said Pussieldi.
Pussieldi further criticized the U.S. government for meddling in international sports through the Rodchenkov Act, which asserts criminal jurisdiction over doping cases in international sports events outside the United States, but excludes its own domestic professional leagues, college leagues and other U.S. events.
"This Rodchenkov Act is pathetic. This law is ridiculous. First of all, because it crossed the line using a political influence for something else they have no jurisdiction. So how you can punish someone if you did not investigate, you did not analyze, you do not have a control of that, that does not make sense at all. And the IOC already replied to this because recently the city of Salt Lake got rewarded for to be received Olympic Winter Games and the IOC was very strong on that and said 'listen, you have to clean this because we cannot give you the right to host an Olympic Games if you do not follow the international sports law. You cannot cross the line, that's one of the most important things in Olympic sports'," he said.
Last month, WADA's founding president Dick Pound told Reuters that the Rodchenkov Act the United States is using to investigate the contamination case of Chinese swimmers is non-compliant with the world anti-doping code. Pound said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) might consider delaying the confirmation of Salt Lake City as host of the 2034 Winter Olympics.
"In my view, this Rodchenkov law is completely out of the mind. And also, people need to know, their own professional leagues do not follow the Rodchenkov law, like you are on the right to punish an international swimmer, testing overseas and you're not testing your basketball players, your football players, your hockey players. Come on, doesn't make sense at all," Pussieldi said.
'Ridiculous' Rodchenkov Act goes beyond US jurisdiction, unfairly targets China: analyst
'Ridiculous' Rodchenkov Act goes beyond US jurisdiction, unfairly targets China: analyst
