The war of words continues between WADA and the United States. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) seems to want to go back on the offensive, as evidenced by its letter addressed to Tobie Smith, the chairman of the board of directors of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the content of which was revealed to the media. The Montreal-based agency is repeating a refrain that has been played since the beginning of the case of the contaminated Chinese swimmers and the repeated attacks by the Americans. It seriously questions the effectiveness of the fight against doping in the university system. "The issue of university sports is particularly worrying, because it is home to a large number of athletes who pursue their careers at the highest level, including at the Olympic Games, underlines the AMA in its letter to USADA. 75% of U.S. athletes competing in the 2024 Paris Games are college athletes. That’s three-quarters of U.S. Olympians who were at one point part of an elite system that operates well below globally recognized standards for clean sport.. » WADA also points out that the American university system, the NCAA, is not just about Team USA athletes. More than 1.000 student athletes from American universities were present at the Paris 2024 Games, representing more than a hundred countries. They won 330 medals for 26 different nations. WADA also notes that USADA collected only 7.773 samples from 3.011 athletes during the year 2023. "The French National Anti-Doping Organization collects many more samples than USADA, although its budget is only a little over a third of USADA's, insists the AMA. USADA also collected fewer samples than national agencies in China, Russia, Italy and Britain. ».
