WADA's new edition means athletes accused of doping violations may not have been recorded during the Paris Olympics – Firstpost

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has reportedly lost track of over 900 potential doping results in the run-up to the Paris Olympics, with at least 2,000 cases potentially compromised by erroneous, missing or erroneous data in the organization's database a report in the New York Times.

Although senior WADA officials were made aware of these issues back in May, the situation was kept secret and even hidden from the agency's board members until NYT reporters discovered photographic evidence of the presentation given at a meeting.

Database error shocks WADA

The presentation called for immediate action after WADA's legal team discovered the data problems and found itself unable to confirm whether staff were appropriately handling cases involving athletes who may have been earmarked for the Olympics monitored.

While WADA has faced ongoing challenges with its computer systems since its inception, the situation has worsened in the run-up to the Paris Games. According to two officials and the PowerPoint presentation, a new internal database has led to escalating problems impacting a growing number of cases.

Over 900 test results showing banned substances did not appear in the WADA database used to track cases. Another 1,700 cases contained incomplete information and were missing critical codes linking them to samples from specific athletes. In addition, in 750 cases there was no sufficient information to identify the athletes involved.

WADA is downplaying the situation

WADA has since acknowledged the meeting but downplayed the situation, describing it as a discussion about “temporary technical issues” due to data migration. The organization claimed that the so-called “missing” results were the result of these technical challenges and claimed that the problems would have “no negative impact” on the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, noting that several databases were used for tracking cases were used.

However, a former anti-doping official briefed on the matter told The New York Times that the database problems remained unresolved as the Games began. This revelation intensifies WADA's scrutiny, particularly after it was discovered that 23 Chinese swimmers competed in the Tokyo Olympics despite failing anti-doping tests.

The seriousness of the situation goes beyond technical failures: WADA's lawyers warned in May that the agency was at risk of violating its own rules.