The ‘leak’ to French newspaper L’Equipe, indicating that swimming superstar Ian Thorpe ‘showed “abnormal levels” of two banned substances in a doping test six months before he announced his retirement in November’ has now drawn strong criticism from the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA).It now seems that the Thorpe leak came off the investigative procedure. A press release sent out by WADA today to The Indian Express expresses concern that an internal investigation was made public without there being definite proof. “WADA is especially shocked that the name of an athlete was apparently given to the media while no adverse analytical finding has been determined at this point,” the release says. “Following its policy, WADA does not comment on pending procedures. This particular case has not led to an analytical positive result, but is rather an unusual situation which is subject to further inquiry. Only when this process is completed and if an adverse analytical finding is then made, will WADA be informed of an athlete’s name,” the release goes on to say. The world agency criticised the handling of the case by the international swimming federation (FINA). “WADA expects FINA and the Australian Sport Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) will deal responsibly with the matter. The apparent provision of an athlete’s name to the media when it should have been kept confidential is unacceptable,” it says. According to the agency, any appeal on the case can only be made once a case has been found to violate certain norms. “WADA’s role as relates to doping control results management is to assess the sanctioning process conducted by the relevant anti-doping organisations following completion of the process. Should WADA consider that a decision does not comply with the World Anti-Doping Code, the Agency determines whether it should exercise any rights of appeal that may exist.” The agency also said that it will try to make the investigative procedure more watertight for future cases: “WADA will discuss with its stakeholders ways to further strengthen confidentiality provisions as part of the ongoing World Anti-Doping Code review, which will culminate at the Third World Conference on Doping in Sport, to be held on November 15-17, in Madrid.”
