Atits glitzy 25th anniversary gala in Lausanne in March, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) screened a slick montage highlighting how it had changed sport for the better. There were images of Muhammad Ali defying Parkinson's to light the Olympic flame and Pelé lifting the World Cup, before a history lesson - and a promise. "Today Wada is a more representative, accountable and transparent organisation," explained its director general, Olivier Niggli, "that truly has athletes at the heart of everything we do."
Not everyone in the room was buying it - one source felt it was too PR-focused, while another raised their eyebrows when Thomas Bach - the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) - and the former Wada president Sir Craig Reedie picked up awards. However, frustrations with Wada were largely limited to corridor conversations in the relative calm before the thermonuclear storm.
Everything changed last month when an ARD/New York Times investigation revealed that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart drug trimetazidine (TMZ) before the Tokyo Olympics - only to be quietly cleared after the Chinese anti-doping agency found their hotel kitchen had been contaminated. The chief executive of the US anti-doping agency (Usada), Travis Tygart, then turned the finger of blame on Wada and the Chinese anti-doping agency, Chinada, for having "swept those positives under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world".
Tygart has form for speaking his mind-most notably on Russia - and Wada has tended to ignore him or issue an anodyne response. Not this time. It retaliated by accusing him of "outrageous, completely false and defamatory remarks".
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj's narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music.
'I am all the world' The brutal rule of a West Bank settler
Palestinians tell ofblacklisted Yakov's reign across the Jabal Salman valley and heisjust one of many violent bosses
Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.