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USADA CEO caught red-handed lying about athletes undercover tactics: commentary

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USADA CEO caught red-handed lying about athletes undercover tactics: commentary

2024-08-09 00:15 Last Updated At:15:17

The CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) Travis T. Tygart has been caught lying to the world about a scheme that allowed U.S. athletes who had committed doping violations to compete without sanctions for years, said China Global Television Network (CGTN) reporter Liu Xin in a commentary released on Thursday.

The commentary goes as follows:

The Olympics are on in Paris, but there's no truce in sight.

The latest squabble between the World Anti-Doping Agency, the recognized global authority on the job known as WADA, and the U.S. national authority on anti-doping called USADA, is getting nastier. And my observation is: The head of USADA, Mr. Tygart, has shamelessly lied to the world.

Here is the story.

Reuters dropped a bombshell on August 7, reporting on a so far undisclosed dispute between WADA and USADA. It involves U.S. athletes caught doping by USADA but still allowed to compete in exchange for ratting on others. It's like the FBI cutting a deal with the mafia.

In reaction to the story, WADA sent out a statement, giving its version and more details. "WADA is now aware of at least three cases where athletes who had committed serious anti-doping rule violations were allowed to continue to compete for years while they acted as undercover agents for USADA, without it notifying WADA and without there being any provision allowing such a practice under the Code of WADA or USADA's own rules."

The athletes were caught doping between 2011 to 2014, according to WADA. But the world body was only informed of these violations ten years later in 2021. In at least one case, USADA has done so without ever publishing or sanctioning the violations. The athlete was even allowed to compete until retirement.

In fact, WADA says, the case was "never published, results never disqualified, prize money never returned, and no suspension ever served." Never, ever! WADA did not sign off on this practice.

Now, what's USADA's version? In a latest statement, its CEO Travis Tygart, who is known to have pursued Lance Armstrong's doping case, did not contest the facts provided by WADA. He insists, instead, it was a smear and a deflection attempt by WADA.

Tygart asserts that at least one of the informant's cooperation was necessary for U.S. authorities' investigation into human and drug trafficking. He says: "WADA was notified of the violations and sanctions."

Now this is crucial -- USADA admitting there were violations. Because, despite the murky details, one thing becomes crystal clear. Tygart has lied.

In this news article published by AP on June the 20th this year, when commenting on the exoneration of a U.S. athlete for the Paris Games after testing positive earlier this year, Tygart was quoted as saying:

"We did what the rules require us to do in all positive cases...We can take comfort that justice was served, and transparency, as required by the rules, was achieved."

The report went on to say, "USADA insisted it has followed the rule book in all of those cases, including making public any violation, even if it did not result in a penalty."

Tygart was referring to food contamination cases, which are unavoidable, unintended, and can be tolerated. But here we are talking about real drug cheats. It's a different story and much more serious offenses.

Talk about transparency, Mr. USADA, where was it before 2021? You knew there were serious violations, but you kept schtum. Explain yourself.

USADA CEO caught red-handed lying about athletes undercover tactics: commentary

USADA CEO caught red-handed lying about athletes undercover tactics: commentary

USADA CEO caught red-handed lying about athletes undercover tactics: commentary

USADA CEO caught red-handed lying about athletes undercover tactics: commentary

USADA CEO caught red-handed lying about athletes undercover tactics: commentary

USADA CEO caught red-handed lying about athletes undercover tactics: commentary

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Beijing consumer gold market remains hot despite rising prices

2024-09-17 04:15 Last Updated At:08:17

Beijing's consumer gold market has been running hot during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, despite recent rises in the gold price on international markets.

Last week, the main contract for gold futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (COMEX) has risen to over 2,600 U.S. dollars per ounce.

At a gold shop in Beijing's Xicheng District, the price of pure gold jewelry went up to about 737 yuan (about 104 U.S. dollars) per gram, but many shoppers are still looking to buy gold jewelry especially during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday and the end-of-summer wedding season.

"It is now more than 700 yuan (about 98.7 U.S. dollars) per gram, but when we were here about two months ago, it was only just above 600 yuan (about 84.6 U.S. dollars) per gram," said a customer.

"I'm getting married, so I came to have a look. Even if the price goes up, we still have to buy it," said another customer.

"I had nothing to do during the holidays, so I came here to take a look [at the gold jewelry]. I just bought a lucky charm bead and now I want to take a look at the bracelet," said another customer.

At the shop's gold investment counter, many consumers have been making inquiries about gold bars, which has long been considered a safe investment, although experts recommend caution in the rising gold market.

At the shop's gold investment counter, many consumers have been inquiring about gold bars, which have long been considered a safe investment. However, experts recommend caution in the rising gold market.

"Many investors will buy gold bars for medium- to long-term investment based on their expected price as part of their overall family asset allocation. We suggest that investors be more rational in their decisions," said Li Yang, a senior gold investment analyst.

Beijing consumer gold market remains hot despite rising prices

Beijing consumer gold market remains hot despite rising prices

Beijing consumer gold market remains hot despite rising prices

Beijing consumer gold market remains hot despite rising prices

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