The Control Yuan has issued corrective measures to the Ministry of Education over its failure to ensure that the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee follows anti-doping regulations stipulated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The Control Yuan launched the investigation after WADA on March 6 notified the committee that it should publish the names of 11 athletes who have contravened anti-doping regulations as well as the duration of their ban from competitions.
Although the committee had signed and agreed to follow WADA’s anti-doping code in 2003, it did not disclose the names of athletes — including two-time Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting Hsu Shu-ching (許淑淨) — who had tested positive for banned substances and their penalties after the WADA last year informed the committee about the violations.
The ministry, which oversees the committee, failed to ensure that the committee adhere to the regulations, the Control Yuan said, adding that the incident has hampered government efforts to crack down on doping in sports and hurt the nation’s image.
The National Sports Training Center, which the ministry oversees, likewise failed to follow the anti-doping code by continuing to employ Hsu as a weightlifting coach at the center, despite the WADA ban.
The Control Yuan’s investigation further showed that Taiwan is the only country that has the national Olympic committee administer drug tests for athletes.
“The ministry should quickly study the possibility of establishing an independent drug-test laboratory that meets international standards. Strict adherence to WADA’s anti-doping code would protect athletes’ rights to compete in international games, as well as the nation’s right to host international games,” the Control Yuan said.
In response, the ministry’s Sports Administration said that the committee had informed WADA in a letter on April 3 that it had followed the agency’s suggestions to rectify the situation within the designated period, and that the National Sports Training Center had stopped employing Hsu as a weightlifting coach.
Both the committee and the center have completely adhered to WADA’s regulations, it said.
“WADA has begun to closely monitor if countries around the world have taken specific actions in addressing the abnormalities appearing in the athletes’ drug tests since Russia was found to have tampered with the drug test samples when it hosted the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014, which had compromised the fairness of the competition. Since 2017, the agency has also intensified its inspections of the organizations administrating drug tests, which must propose ways to address the identified shortages and errors,” the Sports Administration said.
“We will assist the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee in complying with WADA’s new anti-doping regulations, which are to be implemented in 2021,” the administration said.
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