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The 2024 Paris Olympics has finally come to an end, but the scandal of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) allowing doping athletes to compete for many years is getting worse. Recently, American independent investigative reporter Ben Norton posted a video on his personal social media platform with nearly 300,000 followers, detailing how the USADA allowed some athletes to use banned drugs and recruited them as informants to monitor other foreign athletes. Norton commented in the video thatThe United States Anti-Doping Agency's "hypocrisy is obvious" and its double standards are "extremely ironic."

August 15th, local time,CCTV reporterAn exclusive interview with Ben Norton on the US Anti-Doping Agency scandal. Norton said that the US Anti-Doping Agency has no power to allow athletes to cheat in international sports events, and the United States cannot make rules for other countries and international sports events. He believes thatIf the situation escalates further, the United States may be banned from hosting the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics due to the scandal.

USADA

Funded by the US government

CCTV reporter:What do you think of the US Anti-Doping Agency allowing athletes to cheat?

Ben Norton:This is a very big scandal because the US authorities are actually saying that we allow some athletes to violate anti-doping rules in order to catch other athletes who may violate the rules, which is obviously extremely ironic.

I would also like to point out that USADA’s claim that it is an independent, non-governmental organization is somewhat misleading.It is funded by the U.S. government and overseen by the U.S. Congress.WADA has referred the United States to an international review committee.This means the United States may be banned from hosting the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.Additionally, the United States is planning to host the Winter Olympics in 2034. So we will have to wait and see how these procedures progress.

But WADA has made it very clear that the United States has violated these important rules and has unfairly allowed an unknown number of athletes to use banned drugs at international sporting events, including the Olympics, since at least 2011.

USADA

Not the police department

CCTV reporter:How do we understand the US government's behavior of allowing its own athletes to cheat but groundlessly accusing athletes from other countries of cheating?

△American independent investigative journalist Ben Norton accepted an exclusive interview with CCTV reporters

Ben Norton:The reason given by USADA is that they need to allow some American athletes to use these banned drugs in order to act as informants, essentially spying on other athletes who are accused of doing the same thing. This is a tactic used by police departments in the United States. The FBI or local police sometimes try to recruit a criminal, such as a drug dealer, and turn him or her into an informant to spy on other criminals and drug dealers.

However, we are talking about two very different things.USADA is not a police department, it is a body that is supposed to ensure that its athletes do not violate the rules of doping, especially in international competitions such as the Olympics.USADA has no authority in international sports to say our athletes can cheat, because we want to monitor other athletes who we think may be cheating.

That's not how the rules work. The United States does not make the rules for other countries and international sports events.

The United States politicizes sports events:

Creating trouble for competitors

CCTV reporter:You mentioned in your video program that the United States did this for "political reasons". Can you explain in detail what kind of "political reasons" they are?

Ben Norton: US often politicizes international sports events, this is not new. We have seen, for example, the United States pressure the International Olympic Committee to ban Russia. The United States has also been pressuring China. Obviously,The Chinese team has become the main competitor of the US team. In the 2024 Olympics, the United States and China are tied for first place in the number of gold medals. Therefore, the United States has an interest inCreating trouble for its main competitor.

In the past two Olympics, the United States accused the Chinese team of using banned substances. In fact, at the 2020 Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency investigated these US allegations and concluded that they were not true. In fact, the Chinese swimming team dined collectively in the hotel, and the food there contained a chemical, but they did not use drugs. This was a mistake made by the hotel, not their athletes. So the US made this accusation, which was false, but the US made this accusation with the purpose of spreading uncertainty and making people think that when Chinese athletes performed well, they were actually suggesting that they did not compete fairly.

This accusation is, of course, deeply ironic, since we now know that the United States has allowed its own athletes to use banned substances in violation of anti-doping rules since at least 2011. This has also led to the harassment of Chinese athletes at the 2024 Olympics.The Chinese swimming team received an average of 21 drug tests per member, while the U.S. swimming team received only 6 tests.European countries and the Japanese swimming team were tested 4 times. Chinese athletes are held to a higher standard, which is obviously unfair. This happened because the United States made these accusations, which are rooted inThe US government has attempted to demonize China and find scapegoats for these often fabricated excuses in all international arenas, including international sports, international trade, infrastructure development, economic policy, and military policy.

It is normal for Western media to take a biased stance

After the USADA scandal was exposed, although the mainstream media in the United States reported on it, most of them were superficial and did not delve into it, but focused on the drug test results of Chinese swimmers. Norton said that it is normal for Western media to take a biased stance.

Ben Norton:For a long time,Western media show favoritism towards the interests of Western governments and are often very biased against countries like China that do not simply follow Western orders.For example, in the run-up to the Iraq War, Western media disseminated patently false statements, repeating lies spread by the US government to justify the illegal war of aggression. Therefore, it is not surprising that Western media adopt such a biased stance.

But we can also see hypocrisy on issues like this. The World Anti-Doping Agency has accused the United States of allowing some athletes to use banned drugs for more than a decade, but Western media have hardly reported on this. Instead, they have reported extensively on the US accusations that China and Russia allegedly allowed their athletes to use banned substances.

△Alex Puselki, former international swimming coach and well-known American swimming commentator

Alex Pselki, former international swimming coach and well-known American swimming commentator,By journalistsDuring the interview, he also said that the Western media's unfair coverage of Chinese athletesIt shows that they are eager to take sides.

Pselky said that some international anti-doping agencies were influenced by these international media and decided to put pressure on FINA, and then on the World Anti-Doping Agency.It is unfair that the international media has almost completely forgotten about other cases and only focused on China.

Puselki has participated in five Olympic Games and twelve World Championships. He has extensive experience in swimming training and commentary. In the interview, he called forInternational sport must not be subjected to specific laws that do not pertain to sport.

Pselky also said that when Salt Lake City was qualified to host the Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee was very strong in their statement that the rules and laws of the International Olympic Committee must be followed.

U.S. government agencies seek to undermine China's international standing

△William Jones, former president of the Washington branch of the US Global Strategic Information magazine

William Jones, former president of the Washington bureau of Global Strategic Information magazineIn an interview with reportersDuring the interview, he said that the United States has the upper hand in swimming, but China is making progress in many areas, especially in swimming competitions at the Paris Olympics.All parts of the U.S. government are trying to weaken China's international position.

Jones said the US believes it still has "imperial overreach" to determine the fate of humanity, and this is reflected in the issue of sports.The rise of ChinaIt has been proven that the United States has indeedWith a real competitor,Any progress made by China in technology, science, mathematics and sports is regarded by the United States asThreatening its great power status.

Source: CCTV News