Shubenkov calls US position in the anti-doping system "privileged". GETTY IMAGES

Just two months before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris, the controversy surrounding the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and its handling of certain cases, notably that of the 23 Chinese swimmers allowed to compete at Beijing 2020, is growing.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) stated that confidence in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has been undermined by the "concealment of information" in the case of Chinese swimmers caught using trimetazidine in 2021. 

This major case concerns the 23 swimmers who competed at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 despite testing positive. The issue has sparked a fierce controversy between those involved in the fight against doping and put the spotlight back on WADA. 

The global agency later pointed out that 90% of US athletes are outside the jurisdiction of the WADA Code, and of the remaining 10%, almost a third of athletes are not tested. In response, former 100m hurdles world champion Serguey Shubenkov of Russia was highly critical of what many in the sporting world consider "double standards".

"In America, doping control is completely different. They have their own federation, athletes use a completely different application, and not ADAMS (Doping Control System), which is used in the rest of the world," the 33-year-old athlete told TASS in an information later published on sports.ru. 

Shubenkov made history for Russia at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing. GETTY IMAGES
Shubenkov made history for Russia at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing. GETTY IMAGES

The Russian is one of the three World champions in the high hurdles from Europe along with Great Britain's Colin Jackson (Stuttgart 1993 and Seville 1999) and France's Ladji Doucouré (Helsinki 2005). The Old Continent has only two Olympic champions in the 110m hurdles (France's Guy Drot at Montreal 1976 and East Germany's Thomas Munkelt at Moscow 1980 in the absence of the USA due to the boycott).

Shubenkov, added, "Their rules for submitting requests to use banned substances for medical purposes are completely different. The whole world lives by one anti-doping rule and the United States lives by another. At the same time, the Americans always fail to realise that they are privileged". 

"As for the growing conflict between WADA and USADA, I look at it as a qualified lawyer. However, I repeat, America is in a privileged position in terms of anti-doping, even in the sports that WADA has the right to control. It's not up to the Americans to teach the whole world how to fight doping," concluded the 110m hurdles world champion in Beijing 2015.